Upside Down, Inside Out & Backwards
by eyrianone
Summary: Post 6 x 09. 'Confessing her mistake and telling Booth how she feels has changed nothing. So as her world won't 'right itself', Brennan walks out of Booth's starting a chain of events that will alter everything. Forever.
1. Prologue

**Title:** Upside Down, Inside Out & Backwards

**Author:** Eyrianone

**Rating:** T

**Category:** Angst/Romance

**Disclaimer:** Booth, Brennan and all other recognizable characters within this story are the property of Fox & Hart Hanson. Anyone you don't recognize I'm claiming.

**Summary:** Post 6 x 09. 'Confessing her mistake & telling Booth how she feels has changed nothing, and in a world that won't 'right itself', Brennan struggles to live each day the only way she can – upside down, inside out and backwards . . . '

**Authors Note: This story is will be multi-chapter and starts in canon with the prologue below occurring a couple of months post 'The Doctor in the Photo.**

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**Prologue: The Proverbial Straw.**

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27 February 2011.

It was the pity in his eyes every time he looked at her that did it, that built the tower.

Each look, each painful glance became a straw, all of them piling up in her memory and on her back until there was that one . . . the proverbial one, which finally sent the pile tumbling over, leaving only chaos and destruction behind it.

'_I asked Hannah to marry me.'_

Pity - aimed at her. She doesn't want his pity. She doesn't want _anyone's _pity. She's a lifetime of pity behind her . . . and in the past, in her childhood and her high school days is where it should stay. She's brilliant, she's beautiful . . . and she'd finally begun to believe she was lovable if she'd only open-up and allow herself to be.

This is what he taught her. This is how he changed her. And no matter how much she wants to, no matter how hard she'd tried too . . . she can't make the change back.

Her heart remains open and raw and bleeding . . . and there is pity in his eyes.

She doesn't recognize the world now, for every part of it remains inverted and all she's relied upon for so long is backwards. Where once she had a place, now she's been replaced; where once her love was desired, now it's unwanted. Where once she did not believe, now she's doomed faithful, her heart and soul chained to something lost in time as she drifts anchor less and unreachable by another; for she will always love him, the Booth she once knew, and no matter her desire for a life with no regrets this single fact alone dooms her to an existence with a huge one.

But how could seven months make such a difference in him? In what he felt, what he wanted, in the way he looks at her?

How is a moment so easily lost? Why should love hinge on a single moment anyway?

He told her he 'adapted' as she tells him she will, but there is only so much change she can make; and learning to love him, to need him, to rely on him is not something that can easily be undone.

All that remains to be seen is how she will live in her new disorienting environment, so she walks out of his life this night in a last ditch effort to retain her sanity. All formal ties to him cut, all search avenues sealed against him, and with an unforgivable secret inside her.

All because where once there was love . . . now there is pity in his eyes.


	2. Alter  when you alteration find

**Chapter One: 'Alter . . . when you alteration find.'**

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March 2011

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He calls Cam when he can't track Bones down. Something must be wrong with his partner's cell phone because he's getting a 'not in service' message from her number and her office number gives him voice-mail every time.

Cam, however picks up immediately.

'Yes Seeley what is it?' Cam's tone is cool, chilly even as she addresses him. It's not like her and he should see it as an indicator, but he plunges on.

'Good morning to you too Cam . . . have you seen Bones this morning? I can't find her anywhere and we have a case, I was hoping to swing by and pick her up en-route.' He says cheerily.

Silence greets his request.

'Cam . . . did you hear me?' He prompts.

'I heard you . . . I just . . . I didn't know that you didn't know . . . and now I'm not sure how to tell you.' The chill in her tone has vanished, and polite confusion has replaced it.

_What doesn't he know?_

'Didn't know what Cam?' A bad feeling begins in the pit of his stomach.

He actually hears Cam a take a deep breath before speaking, and the bad feeling gets exponentially worse.

'She's gone Booth. Brennan resigned a few days ago and I know she's left DC.'

He actually feels his heart turn over even as his stomach seems to relocate itself to his windpipe momentarily robbing him of vocal ability.

'I'll be right there.' He manages eventually.

'Ok.' Is all Cam replies before she hangs up.

It takes him twenty minutes in DC traffic to make it to the Jeffersonian and once parked Booth sprints for Cam's office.

When he arrives breathless, Cam stands and shuts the door behind him, leaning her back against the glass door she smiles so sadly at him he can hardly stand it. Before he recovers his breath enough to ask her what's going on, Cam beats him to it.

'I warned you Seeley . . . I warned you and you ignored me. How you could be so selfish is beyond me, but I have to say, as an old friend, I really don't like you very much right now.'

Booth shakes his head, nothing is making any sense.

'What Cam . . . what warning?'

Incredulous Cam stares at him in amazement.

'I told you very clearly to be sure – completely sure before you cracked that shell of hers. I told you if you weren't, that she'd curl up and die alone before she ever trusted anyone again. How could you tell her you knew from the beginning that she was the one for you, and then not see this coming when less than a year later you're telling her you love someone else?'

Angry Booth comes quickly to his own defense.

'She didn't want what I wanted. She said NO. I moved on.' He yells.

Cam rolls her eyes. 'I said BE SURE . . . and I meant SURE Booth. A hundred percent sure that you loved her! Sure means not running because she says no in a scared moment, sure means willing to wait, on her . . . for her . . . until SHE was ready. How do you convince a person of loves enduring nature when it doesn't endure?'

'She said no Cam.'

Cam shakes her head. 'No Seeley, she said _I'm afraid _and then you brought those fears to life and called them 'Hannah'.'

They stare at each other for a long minute, and then Cam moves from her position against the door, shaking her head as if to clear it, she returns to her desk and seats herself before she speaks again.

'Sit down Seeley, I'll tell you what I know.'

Booth does as he's bid.

'Brennan came to see me a few days ago with her resignation. To say I was shocked and frankly angry at her would be a bit of an understatement. Dr. Brennan is . . . fair to say an extremely valuable asset to the Jeffersonian. We get funding for this lab based on her credentials, her abilities and her reputation, you know how that was affected when she left for Maluku. I was pissed to think she was running off overseas again; we need her, so I didn't take it well. Then after my tirade I actually bothered to look at her, and . . . she was crying Seeley. I've never seen her cry before, and it wasn't sobbing, it was silent tears, she almost looked like she didn't know she was crying.'

_I don't want to have any regrets . . . I made a mistake . . . I missed my chance . . . my whole worlds upside down._

Booth takes a deep breath trying to shut out her voice in his mind. 'Go on.' He says.

'I asked her what was really going on. She said she couldn't adapt. That though she wanted to be happy that you were marrying Hannah, she couldn't adapt to it. I told her she wasn't making much sense and she told me, in a very Brennan-like matter of fact way that shortly before she left for Maluku, you'd asked her to be in a proper relationship with you, and that she'd said no because she was afraid she'd lose you if that was allowed to happen. She said she'd thought being your partner was too important to risk for love and that she knew now that she was wrong and that not taking a chance on it – with you – would always be the biggest regret of her life. I asked her if you knew – that she thought she'd decided wrongly, and when she said you did . . . when she told me what you said to her, how could you Seeley? How could you leave her alone? How could you tell her you love Hannah?'

His answer is a reflex, a construct; he just doesn't see it yet. 'Because I do, I do love her Camille.'

Cam shakes her head, her features darkened in disgust. 'Love based on a lie Booth. I'm willing to bet my life that if those of us closest to you and Brennan didn't know about you asking her for a real relationship, then Hannah knows nothing about it either. I'm willing to bet you've told her Brennan is your partner – nothing more. Does she know anything about your past Seeley? Have you told her about your Dad or about your relationship with Jared? About your history as sniper and the damage it's caused, or your gambling addiction, or your body count? You've presented her with an illusion and allowed her to fall in love with it. And you've done the same with her. You want a family Booth, something enduring and lifelong with a partner who loves you for who you really are warts and all, and yet you've asked a woman who never stays in one place for any length of time, doesn't want a family and knows nothing real about you to be your wife? And you've walked over your true partner – the real one – to do it.'

Booth opens his mouth to speak, to refute, nothing comes out; Cam watches and claims victory.

'I know you Seeley, for a long time now, and I've come to know Brennan. When you went your separate ways a year ago I thought it was odd, but I figured it was temporary. When you came home with Hannah, I thought it was temporary. I always remembered what you told me years ago – do you even remember – when I asked you what you would do if I fired Brennan and you said _'I'm with Bones Cam, all the way, don't doubt it for second.'_ I've always seen that as one of the truest things you've ever said to me. But this . . . this is forever stuff now Booth, and since you've destroyed her world I don't blame Brennan at all for needing to walk away. I think you should go now.'

Booth shakes his head. 'Where is she Cam?'

Camille Saroyan eyes him sadly. 'I don't know. No one does before you ask, not even Angela. I guess she didn't trust any of us not to tell you. She said she'll stay in touch and that her lawyer knows how to reach her in an emergency; and before you ask about Max – he's gone with her that I do know.'

Booth feels everything turning upside down in his life and spinning rapidly out of his control and in a blinding flash of empathy knows this feeling must mirror his partners; Brennan is gone and that's impossible.


	3. The Truth, the whole Truth

**Chapter Two: The truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth.**

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Back in his office a few hours after his run-in with Cam, Booth sits dejectedly at his desk and stares at the photo in the frame next to his computer. Sweets took it and then gave it to him a few years back; it's his favorite photo of him and Brennan. In the picture, neither he nor Brennan are looking at the photographer, but at each other; and it's always been obvious to him when he looks at it that there is an expression of adoration on his face as he smiles at her.

He's not looking at that right now though, it's his partners' expression which haunts him now that she's gone and he doesn't know where. She looks just so completely happy as she smiles back at him, there is just as much love in her eyes as in his and he's honestly never noticed before how completely in sync their expressions are. Even though he's only been aware of her resignation for a couple of hours, he already misses her, her eyes, her smile, her voice, her presence with an ache that twists his insides. Her not being in his life anymore, they'll be no getting used to that, his whole being rebels at the mere thought. Their relationship is a giant mess with no easy way out, and though some of its Brennan's fault – he's the heart person – the intuitive, instinctual one, the one with the belief in love and forever, so most of the blame for this is his.

Cam's words to him were harsh, and yet . . . all she really did was itemize the facts and repeat both her own, and his own words back to him.

He's not a stupid man, he's always known what he was keeping from Hannah, and how dangerous what he withheld could be to his relationship with her. But somehow in his head, he managed to justify what he was doing as being better for everyone all round, and yet as Cam sees it . . . he's been a selfish, self-centered liar because it made his life easier; his life and his life only. Certainly not Hannah's as she doesn't really 'know' who she's involved with, and definitely not Brennan's. Brennan could have scuttled his relationship with Hannah at almost any point, she had only to drop a few key things into a conversation and then stand back. But she didn't, she kept what was between them theirs, just as he'd taught her, and then he protected his own heart at the cost of hers – and unless there is a way to fix this he'll never forgive himself.

_Are you going to betray me?_

Brennan asked him this once, and when she did he knew she was asking in a more general way than the case they were working. She was asking him if her trust, her faith in him was justified, he'd answered from his heart.

_No._

He'd meant it, oh how he'd meant it. Does she believe now that he's betrayed her, or is she still blaming herself for refusing him, and taking herself out of his life because it's too painful for her to remain? Too painful to live each day with her mistake in her face. The trouble is he knows the pain she's feeling is so bad, so crippling because it is the pain of betrayal, even if she won't name it as such.

He betrayed her. He asked her for, promised her forever and at the first sign of resistance, at the first test of his commitment – his honor – he acted like a petulant child and immediately, literally immediately threatened to move on.

And it was a threat, it was meant to wound. He was lashing out because she was hurting him, and in his own pain he couldn't see far enough to understand why she was hurting him. Why she was saying she couldn't give him what he wanted.

Fear.

Panic.

Cam is right.

Brennan was telling him if he'd only understood her properly that them remaining together, always being there for each other, that this was far too important to risk losing by getting romantic.

She was saying she needed him in her life, and that having him, having 'them' at the center of her world was all that mattered.

That it was everything.

And if that isn't a declaration of love, then he doesn't know what is.

Why does he see this now, when he didn't see it then?

If he'd seen it, he would have let her go to Maluku and he'd have been waiting for her to return. He'd have been there as she slowly figured it out, that they were already together in this way that she feared. That they were already in love, already together . . . already committed. That all that remained was making love because in every other way they were already there.

And instead of this he's lost her. And there may be no getting her back.

He doesn't even know why he told her he'd asked Hannah to marry him; because that was only part of the story. In the days after her confession, he'd stayed away to let her get some of her equilibrium back. The next time he saw her she was trying valiantly to behave as normal but every time he looked in her eyes he saw a confused and wounded creature staring back at him. It reminded him so much of what he'd seen in his own eyes in the mirror for months after she'd turned him down. It hurt his insides to see it, he tried not to see it in case she saw him cringing when she looked at him. This went on for weeks, and in an effort to bring her closer again, to share and confide in her, he told her that he'd asked Hannah to marry him. In hindsight, with the better perspective that he has now, it was appallingly tactless to blurt it out, he can recall how she paled at his announcement and then told him 'congratulations' very quietly before she immediately needed to be elsewhere.

He never got the chance to tell her that Hannah hadn't answered him with a yes, a fact he still hasn't shared with anyone because he's humiliated by it.

He didn't even correct Cam on it this morning.

He'd committed to his relationship with Hannah, and then he'd re-committed the night Brennan confessed her mistake. That HAD to make his relationship with Hannah his correct path, and if he was on his right path then why should he delay asking her to marry him?

No matter how silly it now seems; asking Hannah to commit her life to him when the 'him' she knows is just the preview version of Seeley Booth and not the collectors' edition with all the extras that Brennan owned. The fact remains that he did ask, and as a reply all he got was . . . '_funny man . . . how can you think about marriage when we've only been together a few months? I couldn't even tell you if I believe in marriage as an option for me Seeley . . . I've never stayed in one spot or with one person long enough to consider it. I love you and we're living together . . . let's not mess with perfection huh? It's an option maybe . . . someday . . . I don't know . . . what do you want for dinner?'_

And just like that she'd blown him off and then gone out to get them dinner and he'd gone along with it completely freaked out that she hadn't flung herself on him and shouted yes at the top of her lungs.

He wanted her to say yes, because he'd turned down his partner in order to be with her.

No, that's not true. That's not honest he realizes suddenly in one of those blindingly painful flashes of insight that light up a dark place inside you you're scared to own too.

Turning Brennan down had nothing to do with loving Hannah and everything to do with his own fears. Hannah was a safe harbor, Brennan was the open sea. One relationship had no stress and no challenge and seemed perfect but was all limiting. There was a limit on how much he felt, on how much he'd given, like anchors holding everything in place.

The other relationship was all drama and endless horizons and all possibility and everything was demanded of his heart and soul in an effort to navigate it. There was no limit to what he could feel for Brennan because what was between them was simply a force of nature, and in turning her down, turning her away, he'd denied his nature because the thought she might change her mind and hurt him again seemed like too great a risk.

It was the exact opposite of the gamble he'd one tried.

It was something . . . cowardly.

And there's a giant problem with what he tried to do . . . the power of nature is against you, and a mere man is nothing in the face of nature; his power nothing to natures.

He can try and fight it all he wants, but in the end nature will always win, his love for Brennan will always live. It will always be there in the way between him and Hannah, always be what he really wanted. Does he have the courage to go after it?

Booth starts in his chair and finds himself on his feet somehow and out the door of his office like the Texas Rangers are on his heels. He has to find Hannah, he has to tell her who Seeley Booth really is, and in telling her that he has to commit to confessing the reality of his relationship with Brennan. He has to cut himself adrift and trust that out in the open sea once more he can find his north star.


	4. Brennan's Secret

**Chapter Three: Brennan's Secret.**

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723, W. Oceanfront Dr

Newport Rhode Island

March 2011

'So what do you think about this one hunnie?' Max Keenan eyes his brilliant daughter somewhat sadly; this is not, for one moment he thinks, how things should be turning out for her.

Brennan stands beside him on the back lawn of a white-washed two story cottage style house, looking out over the ocean with an unreadable expression on her lovely face. He watches her silently for a few minutes and finally just as he's about to ask her again she speaks.

'This one will do fine Dad, that is if you think you'll like living here?' Brennan turns to look at him and manages a small smile.

Max nods. 'I'm happy wherever hunnie . . . I'm just thankful you let me come with you.'

Brennan sighs. 'I'm sorry about all of this Dad. I know you loved your job at the Jeffersonian.' She pauses. 'But I am happy to have you with me, I have to make a fresh start and I believe I'll adjust more quickly with some consistency from my old life.'

Max laughs softly. 'Me being the element of consistency in your life is somewhat of a novel idea isn't it?' He says.

Brennan's small smile turns wry, 'Yeah, I suppose it is. I am glad you're here Dad. And if you're happy with this cottage, let's go back inside and settle things with the realtor.'

Max indicates she should go ahead of him. 'It's your money sweetheart and your decision . . . but Tempe are you sure, really sure this is what you want to do? Booth . . . '

At the mention of her partner's - her _former partner's – _name Brennan stops mid-stride.

'Please Dad . . . don't. Booth has chosen his life, and if I'm going to be able to live mine with my dignity and my sanity intact then this is the only way. I told him what I needed too, and I don't regret it, but I can't watch him marry her Dad, I can't. I want him to be happy, truly, I do, but I won't force myself to watch it happen, I already have to live each day in the shadows of my mistake. I thought I could adapt, get past these feelings, even knowing that they aren't going to go away. But it's much harder than I thought it would be . . .'

Max reaches out to squeeze her hand. 'True love is like that . . . it's a permanent mark.'

Brennan nods. 'For me it is, though I once would never have believed that, and it's most ironic that Booth taught me to believe it, proved to me it's real, but only in me for him and not the other way around. Anyway, what's done is done Dad, let's go and find out when we can move in?'

Max nods and together they head back to the house.

Max watches her closely as she goes about setting up a new life for herself, a new home in a new town, somewhere deliberately quiet and tranquil as she plans to spend the next few months at least writing a new book and taking a complete break from all things forensic.

Her last Kathy Reich's novel, at least so she says. Max is smart enough to understand her desire to finish her character's story, give it a proper ending and then let it go, like her job at the Jeffersonian. Cam has let them both know that she'll take the pair of them back in a heartbeat if either wants to return, for his part, though he really enjoyed his job, he liked it most because it was within his daughter's world, for him, being around her is what matters. He's got so much to make up for.

He's actually feeling very much to blame for what's gone wrong between his daughter and Booth. Tempe is so fearless about everything but relationships because of her history and that's very much his fault. But Max is mainly incredibly disappointed in Booth. He thought Booth was worthy of Tempe, that he was good for her. He'd believed completely that Booth loved his daughter, to know Booth turned her away, let her go, to be with someone else. It doesn't make much sense to Max . . . how could Booth appear to love her so much one moment and then get over it in so short a period of time?

Even knowing Tempe turned him down, a decision she now regrets bitterly, even knowing that Max still doesn't get it. Max has great instincts about people, he's needed them a lot over his years on the run to stay alive . . . it seems impossible he could be so wrong about Seeley Booth.

Max has met Hannah at the Jeffersonian, really gorgeous girl for sure, but Max would bet his life on her being the flighty type when it came right down to it. There is a shallowness to her he sensed immediately. Booth and Tempe . . . they've neither of them got a flighty bone in their bodies; for his daughter that's why now that she's finally realized she's committed her heart to Booth she's unable to take it back.

He'd have bet his life on Booth feeling the same; and yet here they are, one hundred and eighty miles from Washington, D.C, physically and world's away emotionally.

Brennan finishes up with the realtor and when she links her arm through his, and walks with him back to her car, her head resting on his shoulder, Max fumes inwardly.

Much as his daughter is trying to move forward, what's happened between her and her partner is like a giant anchor weighing her down, and there is something more going on, something Temperance hasn't yet told him about her decision to leave D.C and deliberately take legal measures to bar her partner from tracking her down. And whatever it is that she hasn't told him, she's scared to admit to it. He doesn't want to believe that Booth could have physically hurt her, it just seems so unlikely, but something is bothering and frightening his daughter and whatever it takes Max intends to protect her, because it appears right now he's the only one who wants too.

They drive back to their hotel in silence, the paperwork is signed, and they can move in within the week. Next to him in the car, in the dimming afternoon sunlight, Brennan seems a million miles away, humming softly along with the radio while he watches her from the corner of his eyes and wonders what she's thinking?

* * *

If Max could have read his daughter's thoughts he would have been in for the surprise of his life, because Brennan is keeping something from him, a secret she hasn't shared with a soul yet.

Following her ill-fated confession to Booth, and his subsequent rejection, Brennan had spent several days trying in vain to deal with and accept that Hannah was the one Booth wanted.

When it became apparent that acceptance was not going to come easily, she'd decided that if she and Booth had missed their chance, then she still had to make some choices about how she should proceed from here. Her desire to live now, from this point forward, with as few regrets as possible was real, and if Booth was going to remain only her partner, then what did she do with her future, then what did she want from it? What could she still have that would give her something to strive for?

The answer was something she'd once committed to doing and then put on hold when Booth was diagnosed with his brain tumor.

Becoming a mother, and raising a child.

She'd contacted her doctor and returned to the fertility clinic she'd planned to use before. Made arrangements to be inseminated by a donor she'd chosen from a very select list and booked her appointment.

The day of her appointment Booth broke the news to her about his engagement, and she'd fled to the clinic hours ahead of schedule and in a very emotional state, and somewhere in there she did something Booth will never forgive her for; Brennan changed her mind about her sperm donor. Booth had signed over his donation to her back when he'd agreed to be her baby's father. It was legal signing away of his rights, and seeding control of his donation to Brennan, she had every legal right to use it . . . but morally . . . ethically, she knew it was no longer appropriate.

It didn't matter. In the heat of the moment, knowing she would have to leave Booth behind her forever, Brennan grabbed for the one piece of him that she could keep with her always – his child.

And three days ago . . . the stick turned blue.


	5. A  Conversation with Caroline

**Chapter Four: A Conversation with Caroline**.

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'You need to let it go cherie.' Caroline Julien says looking sideways at Booth from her position next to him at the counter in the Royal Diner, where she sits sipping at her coffee cautiously – it's piping hot. 'Your lady scientist has made her position plain, and she's not a criminal, and you wanting to find her does not allow you to trample all over her constitutional rights.'

Booth looks at her pleadingly.

Caroline manages a small commiserating smile, it hurts her to see her very favorite studly FBI agent looking both desperate and down; but not even his patented puppy dog pleading look, or his infamous charm smile are going to help him this time.

'I just want to make sure she's okay . . . I _have_ to find her Caroline . . . I don't want to lose her.' Booth can hear the absolute desperation in his voice – can she?

At this the assistant US attorney snorts eloquently. 'If you didn't want to lose the lady, why the hell have you been spending so much time with 'Bagdad Barbie' Booth? You and the lady scientist . . . I thought that was a done deal years ago, but it seems you sure fooled me. Coulda sworn it was love with the two of you, then she off and disappears to God alone knows where . . . and you abandon me for seven months to go back to the damn Army.'

Booth sighs. 'Sorry Caroline. Truly. Bones needed some time away after the whole Gravedigger thing, and with her gone . . . okay you know what that's not true. I wanted us together and Bones turned me down Caroline. Following that she left for Maluku to do some soul-searching and I ran off to Afghanistan because it was easier than staying here without her. And Hannah . . . well that you can blame me for . . . and that's why Bones is gone. Help me Caroline . . . there has to be something I can do.'

Caroline shakes her head. 'You cannot use your position or mine to get at her financial records, her phone records or any of her other personal information. Dr. Brennan has committed no crime and is not a suspect in any crime, therefore her personal records are confidential, 'right to privacy' and all that, and you do not have the right to them Booth. End of discussion. You want to track her down I suggest you get a bloodhound or a private detective. Her lawyer was in my office within an hour of you phoning me, he has a restraining order Booth. Not the usual kind I'll grant you, you aren't required to stay away from her . . . just away from looking into areas of her life that don't concern you.'

_She really doesn't want to see you Booth, and she doesn't want you to find her._

This is what Caroline is telling him. This and that he has to let her go, which is unthinkable.

'Caroline . . . 'He begins.

'No Booth. Find another way. And for what it's worth – you're a damn fool boy . . . and your lady scientist is a fine woman – the type you find once in a lifetime.'

A sad bark of laughter escapes Booth. 'And Bones thinks you don't like her.' He says.

Caroline returns to sipping her coffee. 'I like her just fine Seeley Booth, and you still have to find another way.'

Booth pays his check and Caroline's for good measure, knowing it pays to keep the prickly attorney on his side.

Leaving the diner he glances over at 'their' booth, the one he and Bones were sitting in only a few months ago before Hannah surprised him by showing up in D.C and everything began to go wrong. He looks back now, in the wake of his relationship with Hannah and wonders how on earth it got this far. How did he sit there, glued to his seat that night as Bones poured out all her fears and not reach out to her? How did he witness her tears and that utter sobbing heartbreak and not hold her? How did he tell her he was 'in-love' with Hannah, that she wasn't a consolation prize and not laugh at the absurdity of it? Of course she was a consolation prize. If Bones is the one who holds his very soul in her hands, then anyone else is a second choice – by definition a consolation prize. And yet Bones believed him. He can still close his eyes and see the devastation in her lovely eyes now, the complete belief in his words – in his lies.

He's started having nightmares about that night. Nightmares where he tells her over and over again what he told her that night; and she cries endlessly while he does nothing but sit there. Bones could have died that night, she came that close. If he had not followed his instincts and gone after her he'd have been on the receiving end of a phone call telling him the worst for sure. If that speeding car had hit her while she knelt there in the road, there is not a doubt in his mind that her life would have ended.

The shock of that; of so nearly losing her, it should have been enough to wake him up, out of his Hannah-head. That and her rained soaked confession. Yet he was so far gone, so in-denial that he looks back on his own actions now and barely recognizes them as his.

Just as Bones' actions, walking out of his life and bothering to hire a lawyer to ensure he's handicapped tracking her are barely recognizable as hers. She's SO much stronger than this . . . or so he's always believed.

He walks from the diner back towards the Hoover building in a daze, reliving his breakup with Hannah as he walks.

It wasn't an easy conversation that ended it. He called her home in the middle of the day and he was in such a state because of Bones' disappearance that it took her a while to grasp what he was telling her.

'What's the matter honey?' She asked as she walked into the living room, the loving smile on her face left him tasting ashes in his mouth.

'Bones is gone. She's left me.' He blurted out.

Hannah's forehead creased up at his choice of phrase. 'Left you? Where's Temperance gone? Left you . . . you mean she's quit being your partner?'

Booth shook his head. 'No I mean she's GONE. She's quit everything and walked out of my life Hannah. God I'm such a fool.'

Disturbed by his distress Hannah had tried to hold him, frustrated he'd shrugged her off.

'Don't . . . just don't. You're going to hate me soon enough.' He muttered darkly.

There was just the slightest tone of creeping panic when she spoke. 'You aren't making any sense Seeley. What's happened to Temperance?'

'I happened. I told her I love you . . . that you weren't a consolation prize . . . but you don't even know me . . . I barely know you. There is so much you should know about me Hannah; so much I've kept hidden. Most of all that Bones . . . to say we're only 'partners' that's the biggest deception of them all.'

The look on his girlfriend's face was epic. Shocked didn't even begin to cover it. 'I don't know what that means . . . what are you telling me?' She'd asked.

That she would pick those words . . . Booth's laugh was harsh.

'I'm a fraud Hannah, don't you see?' He'd said. 'I'm a man who's been in love with the same woman for years . . . silently, devotedly, and when that love hit a speed bump, when it was voiced, rejected . . . tested . . . I tried to become someone new. But this man that you think you know . . . I'm not really him Hannah, he doesn't really exist. I'm damaged, the abused older child of a violent alcoholic father who joined the army at eighteen. I'm an ex-sniper with more kills on my conscience than anyone should bear and I have a gambling addiction that I hope I've beaten, but I fight it everyday Hannah and there may come a day when I lose my way again. I have a complicated relationship with my younger brother . . . I've always tried to protect him, felt it was my job and at the same time resented him for the necessity of that protection. And this woman that I've loved so long . . . that woman is my partner, she's my best friend, she's so much a part of me that I can't . . . I really can't live without her. And she's gone.'

Hannah had stared at him open-mouthed for a long time. Finally she took a seat on the couch and swallowing she said. 'Why would you . . . why haven't you . . . but you've told me you love me Seeley . . . you've told me over and over again?'

Booth nods, misery in his eyes. 'I wanted it to be true . . . I wanted it to be real. God help me I think some part of me actually wanted to hurt her with it. But it's not real Hannah . . . it's a mirage, an illusion. I don't know how to love you . . . because you are not Bones. I don't even know how to tell you I'm sorry, because I don't know who I am any more . . . just that it's time for the real Seeley Booth to come back.'

'The one Temperance knew all along.' Hannah says softly, eyes full of un-shed tears.

A sad smile lights up Booth's eyes, and Hannah understands in an instant how much of difference there really is between the army sergeant she fell for and the FBI agent she's living with.

'What are you going to do? She asks him.

'Find her.' He answers. 'Find her and be her partner again . . . anyway she'll let me,'

Booth arrives back at the Hoover building at this point, with this thought in his mind. Brennan might think she's done enough to stop him from finding her, but Booth smiles to himself suddenly. She's thinking this because in her mind he's still the 'new-Booth', the one who wants to marry Hannah . . . if she knew he was back to his old-self he thinks, then she would not be nearly so confident.

Old Booth has always found her when he needed too . . . and he will now.


	6. Double Trouble

**Chapter Five: Double Trouble  
**

* * *

March 2011

Newport, Rhode Island

The weather has been cold and raining since the day Max and Brennan moved into Brennan's new cottage, but the morning of her first gynecologist's appointment the sun comes out, the birds are singing and Brennan somehow feels that nature is subtly mocking her.

She's begun her new book and finds herself devoting most of her time to it as the words simply pour out of her in a cathartic rush to be born. It's not a happy tale thus far and the story in her head just will not resolve itself into a neat happy ending either; but she's compelled to write it, and it will only allow itself to be written one way it seems. Sometimes the story chooses you and you're just the vehicle to tell it, and much as you might wish that the narrative were different it simply is what it is.

Love will not be forever for Kathy and Andy, and the destruction of their partnership will scar them both.

Still it strangely helps to work on it, to have this outlet for all her frustration, all her anger, all her fears. Maybe by the time she's finished this novel she'll have found a measure of peace in the writing of it – at least with what has happened between her and Booth. She knows there will no easy peace to be found in her own actions, in what she's done, because she hates herself for doing it and yet she's thrilled about it all at the same time.

She finds she simply cannot be unhappy about carrying Booth's child, as wrong and as awful as using his donation to get pregnant is. Life is growing inside her, and tiny changes in her body have already begun; and today as she drives the short distance into town and her doctor's office, she finds herself anxious to be assured that all is well, despite all the reasons this baby should not be.

At the doctor's office she fills in the new patient paperwork with trepidation. Though she knows the contents of her medical files are strictly private, it still leaves her feeling a little exposed; as if by completing her details on this form and revealing her presence here to anyone she risks news travelling to Booth of her location.

The receptionist hands her a specimen jar to pee in and once she's managed to fill it, she waits as patiently as possible in a waiting room full of pregnant bellies, babies in carriers and happy smiling women who probably all have loving and supportive partners with them through this whole experience. For a moment, as she looks around her, a scene she'd written for her 'deleted' novel assails her. In that book when 'Bren' told 'Booth' she was expecting, her husband's face had come alight with joy. He'd snuggled her into his lap, his forehead resting gently against hers and the moment was one of serene happiness for the both of them. Brennan's eyes mist over with tears at the thought of what that confession would get her now, even as a protective hand comes to rest low on her stomach, shielding this tiny person from harm.

'Ms. Brennan?' Her name is called by a smiling medical office assistant and she dutifully gets up to follow the woman, her stomach tied in knots and her respirations shallow; the woman must notice because her smile widens and turns softer and as she opens the door to the examination room for Brennan she squeezes her arm briefly.

'Don't look so nervous Ms. Brennan. Dr. Warner will be with you shortly, just make yourself at home.'

Brennan sits down in the plastic chair next to the examination table and occupies her time with looking over all the instructions for pregnant women that cover the walls poster-style.

She is not kept waiting long.

Dr. Julian Warner is kindly looking and probably mid fifties, and according to Brennan's research of gynecologists in her area, he's also one of the most highly regarded physicians in his field and located on her doorstep to boot. He smiles with practiced ease as he approaches her hand out.

'Ms. Brennan . . . I'm Julian Warner, it's so nice to meet you.'

He shakes Brennan's hand and then turns his attention to the admissions form she completed earlier.

'So if your dates are accurate here Ms. Brennan, it would appear that you're around six weeks along, pretty early to ask I guess but how are you feeling so far?'

Brennan musters a smile. 'Fine.' She replies. 'I feel fine.'

'Good.' He replies. 'Any nausea yet? Breast tenderness? Spotting?'

She shakes her head. 'Nothing much. Just a positive pregnancy test a week ago and a slight enlargement of my breasts.'

The doctor nods. 'We did another test on the sample you gave us just to verify; that was positive too . . .' Brennan doesn't hear the rest of what he says.

Confirmation. Not that she doubted it exactly, she's a scientist and she researched the accuracy of the over-the-counter home tests before she bought one, and yet it hits her . . . confirmation. She really is going to have a baby. Brennan bursts into tears.

A box of tissues is thrust into her hands and she feels a kindly pat on her shoulder.

'Those are happy tears I hope?' Her doctor asks.

She nods, wiping at her streaming eyes embarrassed. 'I was inseminated by choice.' She says, blowing her nose as the doctor before her bursts into laughter.

'I should hope so.' He says.

Brennan shakes her head. 'I meant that there is no father . . . I was artificially inseminated at the Douglas Clinic in D.C.' She explains.

'Ah.' _Is she imagining it, or does he look the tiniest bit disapproving?_

'Well in that case we should get your insemination records transferred here. I'd like to know the exact method used etc, and I'd like to do a quick ultrasound today. Your dates are undoubtedly accurate as you can date from the insemination, but I'd still like to make sure everything looks okay.' Dr. Warner gestures for her to hop up on the examination table.

Mutely she nods and moves from the chair to the table. Lying back upon it, her head cushioned by a pillow she stares at the pale pink ceiling of the exam room and feels again the enormity of what she's done crash down over her.

'It was 'intrauterine insemination' following a month of ovarian hyper-stimulation to increase the chances that I would conceive.' She says.

'I see.' Dr. Warner replies. 'Then there also exists the increased potential for multiples, as I'm sure you've been made aware of.'

Yes, she thinks that's true.

She pulls her sweater up and rolls the waistband of her dress pants down, Dr. Warner rolls the portable ultrasound machine over next to her, turns it on and squeezing some cold gel onto her lower abdomen he moves the rounded paddle through the gel and backwards and forwards over her womb. She cannot see the screen, it faces away from her and despite the two positive tests results she suddenly expects him to find nothing there at all – it will all be a mistake. She doesn't know whether to hope for that or dread it and then suddenly when the doctor smiles she knows that this is very real . . .

'Congratulations.' He says, turning the screen around for her to look at. 'Everything looks great. Tell me what you see?' He adds.

There is not much for her to look at, not really. What's going on inside her is so small, and it's so early and yet . . . wow . . . oh wow she thinks . . . there _they_ are. More than one 16mm chorionic sac is clearly visible, separated by a small distance that indicates to her that these are fraternal twins she's carrying. Inside of each sac she can see it easily . . . cardiac activity . . . her babies quickly pulsing heartbeats.

This is not a single child she's hiding from Booth . . . God help her it's two.


	7. Telling Max

**Chapter Six: Telling Max.**

* * *

Newport, Rhode Island

Late March 2011

'Hunnie are you okay?' Max Keenan calls through the bathroom door with evident concern in his tone.

Inside her tiny but elegant en-suite bathroom Brennan retches over the toilet bowl again, unable, for the moment to answer him. At nine weeks pregnant her morning sickness, which started ten days ago has become an almost familiar routine. She get's up feeling fine but within about fifteen minutes she's nauseated, and by twenty minutes she's vomiting. She's taken to drinking some orange juice first thing as at least it gives her something to throw up, which is preferable to bile and dry-heaving, and frankly it tastes the same coming up as going down which makes everything better.

Finally her stomach settles a little.

'Tempe . . . talk to me please.' The concern in her father's voice has grown.

Standing, Brennan moves to the wash basin and splashes some cold water on face, before she lowers her mouth to the faucet, turns it from cold to tepid so as not to shock her stomach and drinks gratefully.

'I'm fine Dad.' She calls. Then she opens the door to find her father immediately on the other side his fist raised to knock again.

'Jeez . . . hunnie you're white as a sheet.' He says, grabbing her by her elbow and forcing her to take a seat on her bed. He tests her forehead for a fever with the inside of his wrist and Brennan smiles inwardly at the paternal concern – it reminds her she does have some happy childhood memories, before life got complicated.

'I'm not sick Dad.' She tells him; knowing that it isn't going to take him long to see a pattern to her sickness and needing to tell someone, as keeping what she's done secret is eating her from the inside out, it's been festering for three weeks already.

'Really . . . it sure sounded like you were definitely sick Temperance. You don't seem feverish though . . . did you eat something bad?' He asks her.

Rolling her eyes she says, 'All the same stuff you have Dad . . . really . . . I'm not ill.'

Max eyes her suspiciously for a moment, and then he takes a seat on her bed next to her.

'Are you going to tell me what's going on hunnie?' He asks quietly. 'Something more than Booth's engagement is bothering you . . . I know I kinda forfeited all my parental rights a very long time ago, but you're my only daughter; I love you more than anything in this world, and I'm worried Tempe . . . maybe I can help?' He says.

Brennan leans sideways and rests her head on her father's shoulder, drawing warmth and comfort from his nearness. At least Booth has given her this, she thinks . . . without Booth she wouldn't have either her father or her brother in her life . . . he gave her a family again . . . and in more ways than he knows.

'Tempe . . . 'Max asks again. 'Tell me.'

Brennan swallows nervously. It's not as if she's going to be able to hide things very long anyway, a pregnancy is going to eventually show, and twins that much sooner, so she takes a breath and tries to calm the erratic thumping of her heart. . . it's not like Max is going to hate her for this as Booth will.

'I'm pregnant.' She finally tells him, keeping her gaze fixed on the wall opposite them.

There is a long, long silence in the room. In fact it goes on so long that Brennan eventually pulls her gaze from the spot on the wall and risks looking at her father's face. His expression is anything but happy and delighted . . . he looks positively . . . murderous.

'Dad?' She says softly. 'Say something.'

Finally Max finds his voice. 'That no good son-of-a-bitch . . . I'm going to make him wish he was dead.'

_What? _

'Dad . . . what are you talking about?'

'Booth . . . that's why you've walked out on him isn't it? His getting married is only part of it . . . he gets you pregnant and then he has the nerve to marry another woman . . . I'm going to kill him!'

Brennan frantically shakes her head. 'Dad . . . it's not like that. I left because he's marrying her yes, but Booth didn't get me pregnant . . . well he did . . . but he's not my lover, he's just my partner. I mean they are his babies . . . but only biologically.'

Max stares open-mouthed at her. 'Babies? As in more than one? Tempe what is going on?'

She gets up off the bed and paces the room trying to find someway in her head to explain what she's done without it sounding like she's the most awful person alive. But there is no way for this to be anything less than a terrible, terrible thing, and she cannot have Max blaming Booth for her pregnancy; this lies entirely on her shoulders and she knows how dangerous her father has the potential to be. When it comes to his family he's the most ruthless man she's ever met.

'A while back I decided that I wanted to be a mother.' She begins. 'I figured I had the money, and the skills needed, and while I did not see myself entering into a long-term social contract with anyone, I still wanted to experience raising a child. I decided that I would get artificially inseminated.'

Max interrupts. 'Tempe, that's no way to have a child . . . not alone.'

Brennan shrugs. 'It's what I decided to do. All that remained was deciding on a suitable sperm donor . . . I asked Booth and he said he'd do it.'

Max manages the smallest smile. 'Yeah . . . I'll just bet he did.'

Brennan makes face but continues.

'It was all planned. Booth made his donation and he signed over his rights to me, and then before I could go through with it he started having hallucinations, and he told me he didn't want me to use his stuff if he couldn't be the Dad, couldn't be involved. His symptoms were serious and when I insisted on taking him to the hospital we discovered his brain tumor. All that mattered was getting him better . . . everything else was put on hold, but I know he meant it when he told me he did not want me to use his donation anymore. He takes being a father very seriously . . . and he's a very good one.'

Max watches her nervous pacing, already suspecting what his daughter is about to confess. 'Go on hunnie.' He encourages.

'You know what happened with us.' She says. 'You know I rejected him and then he started seeing Hannah and I knew I'd made a mistake. When he rejected me Dad . . . when he told me he loved Hannah, after that I had to look at my life and what I could have from it again. I decided that I wanted to go through with having a baby, and I went back to the fertility clinic, I picked another donor, I had everything arranged. . . '

'But the babies are Booth's aren't they?'

Brennan nods. 'I did a terrible thing Dad, and if he finds out . . . when he finds out . . . he's going to hate me for it. The day I was supposed to get inseminated, Booth told me he'd asked Hannah to marry him and . . . I can't explain exactly what happened. It was SO painful . . . it was the most painful thing anyone has ever told me . . . I went to my appointment hours early . . . and I knew I was going to have to say goodbye to him . . . that I could not be in his life anymore . . . but losing him was so hard . . . I just wanted something to hold on to . . . part of him that would stay mine. I know it was wrong, I knew it was wrong at the time. But I still did it Dad . . . I told them to use his donation instead and now . . . 'Brennan breaks down, unable to continue.

Max leaps up off of the bed and pulls her swiftly into his arms, wrapping her up tight just as he used to when she was a small child.

'It's okay.' He mutters against her hair. 'It'll all be okay hunnie . . . I promise.'

Against his chest he can feel her trembling, and shaking her head.

'There is no way this is okay.' She whispers. 'But I want these children so much Dad . . . and as wrong as what I've done is . . . I'm so happy they're his.'


	8. Begging Angela

**Authors Note: Simply a major thank-you to all the reviewers, I haven't had a moment to reply to you all yet, but your kind words do NOT go unnoticed or unloved. Your support is treasured - trust me.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Begging Angela.**

* * *

Early May 2011

Jeffersonian Institute,

Washington, D.C.

Angela Montenegro sits at the computer in her office and wipes at her eyes in amazement. Brennan has sent her the first half of her novel to read over and Angela is amazed by the quality of it so far. Yes, Brennan is a best-selling crime author and her three prior novels have sold millions of copies, but though those novels are exceedingly well-written, Brennan's normal writing style does not evoke in the reader the same emotional roller-coaster reaction that this new novel manages even half unfinished.

In the past when Angela has read through her best friends work she makes all kinds of notes for Brennan on adding some more 'emotional' dialogue here, a sex-scene there, things that 'humanize' the protagonists' more and make for a more satisfying read. This time Angela finds she doesn't want to alter a thing, even as the novel is making her ache inside as Brennan's characters not only destroy their partnership but also self-destruct in the process.

Ang is aching for Brennan too; clearly her friend is using her writing as an outlet for all the grief and despair she's experiencing due to the loss of her own partnership with Booth. Ang doesn't know where Brennan is, but even if she did she'd never in a million years betray that knowledge to Booth – she doesn't think she'll ever forgive him for breaking Brennan in the way he has.

Brennan has been gone for a couple of months now, and the Jeffersonian is not the same place. The only contact Brennan has made has been this email with this initial draft of the first half of her book, and it seems she's only sent that because she feels it isn't very coherent and she's requesting Angela's help. She's supposed to make her usual suggestions and then send those suggestions directly to Brennan's publisher. Angela tried to email her back it bounced back 'undeliverable'.

Angela misses her so badly. It's not fair that while she's happy, pregnant and getting bigger every moment her best friend isn't here with her to share in everything. There are only six weeks remaining before Angela is due to give birth, and she so badly wanted Brennan around for it, something she can't bring herself to request of her friend right now because she doesn't want to put Brennan in the position of having to say 'No'.

As Angela sees it, Seeley Booth has a hell of a lot to answer for; and she hasn't begun to forgive him even though shes heard from Hodgins that Booth and Hannah are no longer together.

So when Angela looks up from Brennan's novel and sees the FBI agent headed straight for her office, she wipes at her eyes again and paints a pretty nasty scowl across her beautiful face.

The Booth that walks into her office though is not the same man she was expecting. Thinner and paler than his normal self he looks tired and sad. Normally that would immediately concern her, to see him this way, and yet she finds she can't bring herself to feel anything but derision for him and the pain he's obviously going through following his break-up with his girlfriend. His 'partner' is a broken woman and as far as she knows Booth didn't so much as bat an eyelid about Brennan leaving.

'What do you want?' She snaps at him, feeling a small smug satisfaction when her words and her tone of voice cause him to flinch minutely.

Booth seats himself on a stool across from her and tries to smile, failing miserably.

'Hi Ang.' He says quietly.

'What do you want _Agent_ Booth?' She repeats.

Booth sighs. He wasn't expecting a warm welcome from Brennan's best friend exactly, but he's always considered himself Angela's friend too. Quite obviously Ang has chosen a side.

'I can't find her Ang, and I was hoping to enlist your assistance. Has Bones . . . '

He doesn't get any farther into that statement before Angela explodes.

'Good.' She practically screams at him. 'You don't deserve to find her Booth. You've made it abundantly plain that Brennan is nothing important to you now, and damn you Booth, damn you to hell for doing this to her. She trusted you.'

There is purely, unadulterated venom in Angela's tone, and complete and utter disgust in her gaze. The weight of both slam into Booth hard, sending his defenses reeling instead of leaping to protect him.

'I know.' He says, so softly that Angela barely catches the words. 'I know she trusted me and I know I've hurt her. She is not blameless in this mess Ang, she isn't, but I do accept that I'm the one more at fault; the one who should have handled things differently. I can see now that Bones behaved exactly as was to be expected before she left for Maluku. If I could go back and undo my months spent with Hannah . . . you have to believe me when I say that I would. That I don't understand myself how I got so lost, got so far away from who and what I really am. Help me Angela . . . please.'

There is something in his eyes that finally breaches Angela's contempt. Tears. His eyes are full of unshed tears, she realizes with a painful jolt to her conscience. Booth doesn't cry.

'I can't.' She says gently. 'I won't.'

'Why?' Booth pleads. 'I just want to put things right. I broke up with Hannah months ago, as soon as I woke the hell up when Bones walked away from me. How can I make it up to her when I can't figure out where she is? I'm not allowed access to any means of tracking her whereabouts through the Bureau, for some reason every private detective I've tried to hire won't touch it. Her lawyer is watching everything I do, and her publisher threw me out. Everyone who knows her in D.C claims to have no contact with her now and when I showed up at Russ Brennan's home he punched me.'

'But Russ Brennan is half your size Booth.' Angela says mockingly.

'I didn't try to stop him Ang. He wanted to hit me . . . so I let him.'

Angela's eyes flare. 'You just let him punch you?' She asks.

Booth nods. 'I figure from his point of view I deserved it, and I wanted him to understand I was truly sorry. I'm pretty sure he must know where his father and Bones have gone. Even if Bones didn't tell him directly, Max must have made sure Russ knew where they'd be.'

Angela shakes her head. 'Russ might know how to reach her, but I believe this time Max is playing by Brennan's rules. I don't think any of us have been told 'where' they are, only 'how' to contact them if we need too. Max would never risk Brennan's renewed faith in him, it's far too precious.'

Booth's shoulders slump. 'So you really don't know where she is? Really?'

'I wouldn't tell you even if I did know, because if I did know I could not betray that trust, but the truth remains that she hasn't told me where she's gone Booth.'

Booth gets up off the stool and paces the room, tension pours off of him in waves.

'I _have_ to find her Ang. You have to trust me that I can fix this; I love her and I need her, I never stopped. I won't give up on this Angela; I can't give up on her. Not now, not ever . . . that's what everything with Hannah has taught me, and Bones needs to know that. She left assuming that I'd really quit on her and wanted someone else. That I was going to marry Hannah, because I never got the chance to correct her assumption when she vanished immediately. I know you've all been told to contact her via her lawyer, but he won't send her message. He won't even tell her I'm looking for her.'

He's about to continue when his cell phone goes off and with a muttered curse he reluctantly checks his caller ID and answers it.

'Booth.' He says curtly.

Angela can't hear more than Booth's side of the conversation, but whoever is calling its most likely work related and it's not good news. The tension apparent in Booth's broad frame increases in intensity, he's fairly vibrating with it and the muscles in his jaw are twitching.

'Yeah I get the situation sir, but I'm kinda tied up right now. Isn't there another agent who can take this on, I'm usually the 'dead body' guy and all you have is a phone threat.' He says tersely.

Booth listens pacing for another minute, no more then he says, 'Fine . . . no I get it. I'll be right there sir, just give me twenty minutes.'

He hangs up and something in the look on his face makes Angela ask him. 'What was that all about?'

Booth blows out a long and frustrated breath. 'The Bureau got a call from someone claiming to be an ex-army sniper and he had a long list of demands he wants fulfilled, or he's threatening to start taking out civilians; targeted civilians at that, only those who work with, or are related to Bureau Special Agents.'

'Oh.' Angela says, and then it dawns on her. 'So we'd all be targets then, all of us that work in this lab.' She says horrified, an instinctively protective hand coming to rest on her swollen abdomen.

Booth thinks about then he nods. 'Yeah I suppose that would indeed technically qualify everyone here. Don't worry about it Angela, I'm headed back to the Bureau now and I'll keep in touch with Cam, let her know what I find out.' He turns to leave her office and then stops and turns back.

'I still want you to considering helping me find Bones. Please at least think about what I've said, and then if you decide you're willing to help me, maybe you can start thinking of where she might have decided to go. Please Angie . . . just consider it, as her friend I know you only want her to be happy, and that's all I want too.'

He's almost out the door when Angela calls out to him. 'Booth, why have they called you in on this? I know you were a sniper but you're homicide . . . not homeland security.'

Booth doesn't look at all happy when he replies. 'Because the sniper says he knows me Ang . . . and that whatever goes down now . . . it's all my fault.'


	9. Numbers Up, Time to Come Home

**Chapter Eight: ****Numbers Up . . . time to come home.**

* * *

Newport, Rhode Island

Late May, 2011

'Really Dr. Brennan, your friend doesn't think you need to change anything at all. She wrote you a letter and brought it into the office herself, I guess she suspected that I would be either seeing you or would get it to you . . . at least that was the impression I got.' Susan, Brennan's editor from Random House Publishing hands Brennan a handwritten letter from Angela Montenegro.

Part of Brennan does not want to read it, does not desire any news from D.C, but this is a communication from Angela, and so after staring at the letter with trepidation, Brennan takes it with slightly trembling fingers. She desperately hopes that Ang understands her silence, her blocked email account that can send but does not receive, and her withholding her location from everyone. She hopes that Ang will forgive her for not trusting anyone to resist a persistent Booth; even though for all she knows Booth isn't even looking for her and has married Hannah by now, she has after all been gone almost three months.

Three months. Brennan rubs her growing stomach tenderly. She's only sixteen weeks into this pregnancy, but with two babies taking up space inside her she appears about five months along. Swallowing the lump suddenly blocking her throat she unfolds Angela's letter and begins anxiously to read.

'_Dear Bren,_

_Where the hell are you? I miss you. Well, things have happened here that you should know about and since apparently your lawyer has been instructed not to contact you with any message from him, I guess that as much as I'm in your corner – totally in your corner – on everything sweetie, I still feel it's right that you should know what's going on with Booth. Don't you dare stop reading this Brennan – you need to know this okay!_

_Booth and Hannah are a thing of the past, and I mean the past, it's been over between them since about a week after you left D.C. And they were never actually engaged Bren, Booth told me this himself. Yes he did ask her to marry him, but I don't think he really knows exactly why he did, and she certainly never said yes Bren. Then after you left he called off the whole thing and he came clean with Hannah about everything; he confessed to her that he was in love with YOU, more importantly he told her that he always has been._

_You have no reason to believe in him – I know this. More importantly Booth knows this; he knows how badly he has screwed everything up. He's pretty broken up, and much as I've felt he should suffer for his actions, I have to tell you that I believe him. I believe him when he tells me he wants to be with you Bren, that he wants a second chance. So now I've told you and whatever you decide to do with your future at least you know. Because you are stronger than this Bren, you are strong enough to fight for what you want. _

_As for the first half of your book – it's simply amazing. It's truly the best thing that you've ever written. I could not put it down even though it was making me so incredibly sad. All their emotions Bren, literally everything they were feeling, the anger and the confusion and all the ways they were hurting each other, Kathy and Andy have never seemed so real, they leap off of the page. I ached for them. I don't know what you have in store for them in the second half; it's hard to imagine a way back for them to what they once had. But I will make this suggestion to you – please try. Even though you may see the story laid out one way, and it seems like there is only one ending you can write – try – try hard to see another way. Try hard to mend and to fix, to create something strong and everlasting for them from the ashes of what currently remains between them. I think if you can do that, not only will you find your own way, but this novel will be the triumph of your authors' career._

_Love you, and please stay in touch,_

_Ang._

Brennan stares at the letter for long moments after she finishes reading, and where her fingers were trembling before she read it, now her hands are shaking. It doesn't seem real – how can things now be happening this way?

She feels like the universe is laughing at her, playing games . . . Booth . . . he's free?

He's not engaged in fact he's not even with Hannah any longer.

Because of her; because when she walked out of his life and she severed all ties it changed things for him. Angela's letter claims it made him re-evaluate, and though she can close her eyes and hear him say again '_I'm with someone . . . and she's not a consolation prize . . . ' _now Angela is telling her that those words weren't true.

'_I asked Hannah to marry me.'_

These were the words that sent her running. That triggered her donor change, and left her carrying Booth's twins. This was the game changer, the moment when the overwhelming nature of her emotions, the indescribable pain she was in, caused her to act rashly, act uncharacteristically.

And it was never real, what she believed. And it isn't going to be.

Excusing herself to Susan she goes to the bathroom and rinses her face with ice-cold water. She stares at her reflection in the mirror over the tiny sink and finds she doesn't recognize the woman staring back at her.

Angela is right – she used to be so much stronger.

So where did Temperance go? When did her courage and her convictions and her honor desert her? Because this weak frightened woman is not the person she wants to be, and more importantly is not the mother her children deserve.

Though she doesn't know, at this point she can't find it within her to believe that there is a way back to what they once had for her and Booth, she knows now she at least has to return and face him. The fault for this mess does not reside solely on his shoulders, she is equally culpable and she's always known this, and where her pregnancy is concerned she is the one entirely to blame.

He may hate her in the aftermath of her confession – but regardless of that he IS going to be a father again, and it's high time she faced the fact that she cannot conceal it from him – not now. Not in light of what she now knows.

While he was with Hannah she could pretend it was better he never find out – that is no longer an option – truly it never was.

If she's to find, to write a proper ending for her new book, she has to discover and to face whatever her own ending will be first.

It's time to stop hiding.

Decision made she returns to her living room to find her editor has turned on the flat screen TV she bought for Max and is watching it with a horrified expression on her face.

Brennan glances at the screen, it looks like a news broadcast, for there are police cruisers and ambulances everywhere.

'What are you watching?' Brennan asks her, taking a seat on the sofa next to her.

'CNN – Dr. Brennan . . . Temperance I'm so sorry . . .' Susan replies, glancing sideways at Brennan the editor is noticeably white as a sheet, a wave of sympathy seems to roll off of her, hitting Brennan squarely in the chest.

'Sorry . . . why would you be sorry?' Brennan asks her, but before Susan can reply, Brennan starts to read the scrolling news bulletin at the base of the screen, and any reply her editor makes is lost as her brain starts to make sense of the words her eyes are reading.

'_Tragic shooting at the Jeffersonian, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth was shot in the chest when he stepped in front of the sniper's intended target deliberately, in an act of heroism this city will not soon forget . . . our prayers go out to his family at this time. . .'_

Her brain seizes and she cannot read anymore, Susan is speaking to her but she cannot hear her above the rushing noise in her ears. Her vision goes suddenly dim as Brennan feels blackness well up from within her and too stunned to deal with what's happening she welcomes the blackness, embracing it as it rises up to swallow her.


	10. Hanging in there

**Chapter Nine: Hanging In There.**

* * *

Newport Rhode Island

Late May 2011.

* * *

Brennan comes around to the sound of her father's gentle voice and the sensation of his fingers caressing her face oh so softly.

''Hunnie . . . Tempe sweetheart can you hear me?''

She opens her eyes and the sight of her father's face, the undisguised panic in his eyes brings memory flooding back for Brennan. Booth . . . something has happened to Booth, something really, really bad. Brennan sits up so suddenly her head almost collides with Max's.

''Booth . . . Dad . . . Booth's been shot . . . he's been shot.''

Black clawing panic threatens to drag her under again; she fights it with every ounce of her willpower, she cannot lose it right now . . . not when Booth needs her. And she suddenly becomes very aware of the fact that right now, Booth does need her, Hannah is no longer there, and someone who loves him needs to be with him right now, needs to be waiting on news of him . . . it's important . . . he shouldn't be alone in this.

The sound of Max's voice steadies her.

''I know sweetheart." He says softly. '' Susan explained what happened when she came outside to find me. I found your phone and I called your friend Angela. He's in surgery hunnie . . . and I'm afraid it's pretty bad . . . they aren't sure they are going to be able to stop the bleeding in his chest cavity, but they are doing everything they can Tempe . . . he has the best cardiac surgeon in D.C working on him. We can't lose hope okay . . . Angie said to tell you that. And she said to hurry back . . . we should get going Tempe . . . the car's outside and Susan is already on her way back to the city. She wanted you to call her if there was anything she can do."

Max helps Brennan up and the anxious way his hand runs down her arm prompts her to reassure him, she might have fainted, but she isn't injured . . . she's fine, her babies . . . Booth's babies are fine . . . her vision blurs with tears, he _has_ to be alright . . . even if he hates her for the way these children came into being, he's still their father, and they need him. She needs him . . . she always has. Brennan hauls in a deep breath, fighting to clear her vision and focus on what needs to happen right now. She has to get back to D.C, and its three hours drive minimum, but she has to get back there, she needs to be with him . . . to ensure he's getting the right care . . . she's his partner . . . _his partner . . . _and he's everything. She follows Max outside, locks the door to the cottage and makes her way to her running vehicle, getting into the passenger side to let Max drive. She sits slumped against the window, her mind whirling while she passes her hand over her stomach again and again, as much to sooth herself as to somehow convey to her unborn children that she's going to their father; that she's taking them there.

Max drives fast and efficiently, speed limits are ignored in favor of getting back to D.C as quickly as possible, Max figures if they get pulled over, if Temperance explains who she is, any law enforcement professional is going to be aware of what went down today, and none of them are going to get in the way of getting a colleagues pregnant partner back to him. Not when that fallen comrade is fighting for his life and every single moment that passes could be his last one. Max's mouth is set in a firm, grim line, damn it Booth, hang in there, he thinks, don't leave her, not now, not when Tempe's finally ready to be with you, not when she's pregnant and vulnerable and so afraid that what she's done you'll never forgive her for.

Max thinks his daughter is wrong about what Booth's reaction to seeing her pregnant will be. If Max had to put money on it, he'd bet Booth will be instantly jealous that he isn't responsible and then when he finds out he is responsible, he'll be so relieved that her children are also his that he'll want to marry her and forgiving her for using his donation will the last thing on his mind.

But of course he has to be alive to do any of this and Angela wasn't hopeful when he spoke to her earlier. In fact Angela was barely holding it together and Max could hear her husband Jack Hodgins in the background telling his wife over and over again to breathe more deeply and to try and calm down. Angie had been practically hysterical and that's a first Max thinks, because in his experience Ang is one tough cookie. Still, Booth had quietly and apparently quite deliberately placed himself in the snipers line of fire to protect Ang, and seeing her friend knowingly make that sacrifice, for her, seeing him shot down right before her, maybe even killed. . . it was enough to shake anyone – tough cookies included.

As Brennan's car eats up the miles between Newport and D.C Max prays really, really hard, and he's not a particularly religious guy though he certainly has more faith in the idea of someone up there than his daughter. He prays that Booth pulls through this, that the doctors are able to pull off a miracle today, that Booth will defy what fate has handed him and somehow hang in there for Tempe; because Max doesn't want to see the look on her face if he gets her there and it's too late. He steals a glance sideways at his daughter, she's holding herself rigidly still and looking out the window, he can see her reflection in the glass though and his foot presses harder on the accelerator as he spies tears on her pale cheeks.

Please Booth . . . he prays again . . . please don't die.

* * *

Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington, D.C

* * *

What's taking so long?' Jack Hodgins asks Dr. Camille Saroyan in a hushed whisper, juggling his sleeping wife in his arms as her dead weight is causing numbness in his fingers. Angela dropped off a half an hour ago finally, exhausted by the strain of the day and for the moment cried out. Jack's arms tighten every few minutes protectively, he came ridiculously close to losing his wife and unborn child today, and if not for the actions of his favorite FBI agent he would now be a widower.

Cam glances down at the sleeping artist in Hodgins' arms, on the one hand so grateful that mother and child are okay and yet on the other so devastated that their safety has come at the expense of another of her best friends.

Everything just happened so suddenly this morning, one minute they are discussing the snipers latest victim on the platform in the lab, the next they all see the red laser-sight dot appear in the dead center of Angela's chest, and in a movement so quick it was almost super-human, suddenly Booth was in front of Angela, and then there was a shot and then Booth was on the floor and she was trying to stop the bleeding while alarms were sounded and chaos reigned.

The look on Booth's face as he struggled to breathe, the way his eyes were seeking Angela, to ensure she was unhurt, the knowledge that he'd very deliberately put himself in the path of the bullet to save her. . . she wanted to rage at him for his stupid bravery, even as she was cowed by it. How the sniper got into the Jeffersonian, let alone with a weapon, has yet to be determined . . . as is how he got out again.

'Taking a long time is a good thing Hodgins.' She whispers back. 'Means they're still working on him and he's still with us.' Cam's voice breaks as she fights back her own tears.

'Do you think he can make it?' Hodgins asks and the pleading look in his vivid blue eyes silently begs both for the truth – the real truth – and some kind of hope . . . no matter how slight. Cam looks from Hodgins over to Sweets and Daisy, apart from the slumbering Angie they are all looking to her for answers.

Cam takes a deep breath. For herself, every moment that they've been kept waiting has given her another tiny glimmer of that hope that Hodgins is now seeking. Those first few minutes, when Booth was bleeding out onto her trembling hands she was convinced the bullet had severed a cardiac artery and that there was nothing that could be done to save him. But he made to the hospital and he made it into theater and since then they've been working on him for several hours, so that has to be a positive sign. The only reason they are still operating is to repair the damage done, which means that it IS repairable – and Booth is strong, with an iron will and in peak physical condition. If anyone can make it through this . . . it'll be him.

'He has a chance Jack . . . a real chance, or we would not still be waiting for news.' She tells him finally.

Hodgins manages a small smile as his arms tighten around Angela again. 'I hope Brennan makes it here soon though, if he knew she was back . . . she just needs to be here.' He finishes.

Cam nods. They were all unprepared for Max Brennan's phone call. Angela had immediately called Brennan's lawyer when the shooting happened, but the damn man was in court and his office would not do anything helpful. Then moments later Angela's phone rings with a withheld number and to everyone's relief it was Max. They know Brennan is on her way back and since Booth has been searching for her for months, if this brings them back together . . . if he can make it . . . maybe they can make it.

The door to the emergency room waiting area swings open suddenly and four pairs of eyes drink in the sight of Brennan as she almost erupts into the room. Her hair is longer than when they last saw her, she's pale and her eyes are red rimmed, she scans their faces then practically runs to Cam.

'Cam . . . how is he?' Brennan falls to her knees beside Cam's chair, her position on the floor makes it look like she's praying for good news.

'Alive.' Cam tells her gently. Reaching out to grasp a cold trembling hand in hers; Brennan is freezing, a sure sign she's in shock. 'He's alive Bren . . . that's all we know. He's in surgery, he's been there four hours already . . . but that's good, it means he's holding on.' Cam squeezes the freezing hand, willing warmth into her friend.

Brennan swallows, her eyes close as she fights to remain calm. The entire journey she kept thinking she was going to get here only to be told clinically that he was gone. To find out he's still living, she knows enough medicine to know this means he has a chance, and a chance is a chance, no matter how slight.

He isn't gone. He hasn't left her. It's all she could have hoped for.

'Come on hunnie . . . the floors cold, get up.' Max lifts her from behind, his hands under her elbows.

He directs her to a seat the other side of Cam from Hodgins and once he makes sure she's steady he goes in search of a blanket. Returning he wraps it around his daughter and tapping Cam on the shoulder he mouths 'I need to talk to you' at her and motions to the corridor outside the waiting room.

Cam nods. Brennan is rocking herself slightly and she motions to Sweets to go and sit with her, distract her for a moment while she and Max talk.

Once in the corridor and outside of earshot Max comes to the point immediately.

'Am I right that she's gone into shock?' He asks.

Cam nods. 'I think so. We just need to keep her warm and keep an eye on her . . . she'll be fine Max.'

'She's pregnant Cam . . . doesn't that complicate things? I tried to keep the car really warm, but she just kept shivering and shivering. She passed out when she got the news and I'm worried about the stress this is having on her and the babies.' He says helplessly.

Cam is momentarily robbed of speech. Brennan is pregnant? When the hell did this happen . . . how the hell did this happen? Finding her voice she goes into doctor mode.

'How pregnant Max and if this is a multiple birth, how many?' She asks him.

'Four months, and she's having twins.' He responds.

Cam blows out a surprised breath. 'We need to get her on a fetal monitor, and check her blood pressure as well as getting her warm, properly warm as soon as we can. We should go back and get her taken up to the maternity ward – she's not going to want to leave here, be prepared for her to fight us on this.'

Max smiles with no humor. 'She'll listen, she wouldn't endanger his children.' He says, and then realizes just what he's revealed.

Cam's eyes widen in shock. 'Booth is the father?'

Max nods grimly. 'Not the old-fashioned way . . . but yeah'

It takes Cam all of a few seconds to grasp the entire sordid truth, and suddenly the reason behind Brennan's secrecy makes sense.. 'Damn. Even so, let's get her taken care of.'

Max follows Cam back into the waiting room thinking that his daughter is going to have his head when she finds out what he's accidentally let slip.


	11. Reunited

**Chapter Ten: Reunited.**

* * *

Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington, D.C

* * *

Cam sits next to Brennan's hospital bed watching intently as her friend and colleague is attached to a fetal monitor to check on her babies. Getting Brennan out of the waiting room and up to the maternity ward took a little persuasion, just as she'd predicted it would. Max had quietly whispered in Brennan's ear what they wanted her to do, and after shooting Max a deadly look for spilling the beans about her condition to anyone, Brennan had followed Max back out of the room and into Cam's waiting care. Cam had tried tact, not letting on what Max had revealed to her about the babies' paternity, but when Brennan proved a little truculent she'd had enough.

'Brennan . . . please think about what Booth would want you to do right now.' She'd said; and while it wasn't exactly an acknowledgment that she knew who the father was, it was enough to make Brennan think and enough to make her suspicious.

Brennan's eyes had widened, her mouth closed on a protest and she followed Cam into the ER proper to get assessed and referred upstairs. Once in the Maternity ward Brennan removes her long leather jacket and divested of its concealing nature the bump of her pregnancy becomes startlingly clear. The nurses take over and steer her into a private room, get her settled on the bed and pull a monitor from the corner.

'Is this really necessary?' Brennan asks, still shivering despite the thermal blanket tucked around her as she sits half propped up in the bed meekly letting a nurse fiddle with strapping the fetal monitor belt around her.

Instead of Camille it's the nurse who answers her.

'Yes young lady it is. Better safe than sorry . . . always; there now, all done . . . you just sit back and relax and let us take care of you all.'

Brennan huffs out a breath and then sits back staring at her feet, when she says nothing further Cam decides she can't not broach the elephant in the room.

'So . . . sixteen weeks huh, you were pregnant when you left us.'

Brennan doesn't look up, but she nods.

'Max, well he inadvertently let slip that Booth is . . . going to be a Dad again.'

At this confession, Brennan eyes dart rapidly to Cam's face and color floods her cheeks.

'So he did tell you! Cam I . . . I know it was wrong, I don't know if you can understand why I did it, I'm not sure I understand it. He's going to hate me isn't he? But I can't care about that as long as he's around to hate me.' She says miserably, swiping frantically at her eyes as the tears cascade down.

Cam gets up from the chair, and seating herself on the edge of the bed she slips her arm around Brennan's shaking shoulders offering her an awkward one-armed hug. She's somewhat surprised when Brennan leans into it.

Cam's voice is low, warm and comforting. 'I don't think that Booth could ever hate you, I just don't believe he's capable of that emotion where you are concerned. I'm not saying I don't think you made a bad choice, because I do think that. But at the same time I can empathize with it. And frankly it's far too late to change it, like it or not these kids you're carrying are part you, part Booth, and we need to make sure everything is okay with them right now. Priority number one if you will. We can't do anything else to help him Brennan, except this; by making sure that you and his kids are okay.'

'What about the others?' She asks. 'What is Max telling them, aren't they going to wonder where we are, why we left? I'm not ready to tell everyone I'm pregnant, and definitely not how I got that way.'

'Leave it to Max. He's only going to tell them that you've been ill and that he wanted you to get checked over. He won't say anything else . . . he would never have told me except that he was concerned about you going into shock.'

Brennan sneaks a sideways glance at her old boss. 'I just want to know what's going on . . . if he's going to be okay? The whole drive here I kept thinking I was going to be too late, and I kept reliving what happened the last time he got shot. When they took him away and then they told us he was gone.'

'I remember.' Cam says. 'I also remember how hard you punched him at his 'funeral' – the look on his face was epic.' She laughs softly.

Brennan manages a small smile. 'And I didn't even know I loved him then. But those two weeks when we all believed he was dead; I've never known pain like that.' She confesses quietly.

Brennan's admission startles Cam, to actually hear her admit her love.

Cam thinks back on Brennan's behavior those two weeks Booth was in hiding and they all believed his faked death was real. Everyone else had cried, openly, even at the lab all their sorrow was just right there. But Brennan, once the news had been given to them she'd simply sucked it up. She'd worked fourteen hours a day, been a bear with a sore head and frankly refused to talk about it with anyone.

'Did you cry?' She asks her now.

'No.' Brennan replies. 'It was too much, too huge, the loss of him. There was no way to express the agony inside me, so I didn't. I kept it bottled up.'

Cam smiles inwardly; the answer is so Brennan and yet not somehow. Brennan has changed; she's so much more open-hearted than she once was, so much more in touch not only with herself but with the people in her life. So finally ready to allow herself to love Booth, and to be loved by him in return. Booth _has_ to make it; he just has to be around to have that chance too.

It's with this thought that her cell phone goes off and she frees her arm from around Brennan and grabs for it; it's Hodgins.

Brennan watches Cam's face intently as she listens to what their friend is saying. Cam's face betrays nothing for what seems like eternity to Brennan and then finally her mouth curves up in a smile that breaks through like sunshine after a thunderstorm.

'Well? What did Hodgins say?' She asks impatiently.

'He's made it through surgery and he's been transferred to the ICU. He's still listed as critical, but the surgeon is cautiously optimistic. Says he's amazed that Booth hung on until they could get him into the OR, but that he's a real fighter. The next forty-eight hours should tell us everything, if he gets through those he should recover.'

It's the best news they could have received under the circumstances so Brennan is confused when the little bit of relief she feels expresses itself in a renewed flood of tears down her face.

'I don't know why I'm crying' She mutters between small sobs, but Cam is delighted to see that Brennan has finally stopped shivering.

'I wouldn't worry about it.' She says smiling. 'Once they give you the all clear here, what say we go over to ICU and check on him?'

'I'd really like to do that.' Brennan replies. 'You've no idea how much I've missed his face.'

* * *

It's another two hours before the maternity staff are satisfied that Brennan's temperature is back to normal and that everything from the monitor readouts looks fine. Once she's sprung she covers the baby bump with her long jacket once more and follows Cam to the ICU ward. Neither of them is surprised when they find everyone else waiting there too.

Angela pounces on Brennan, but thankfully her own giant belly prevents her from getting close enough in her hug to detect the bump concealed by Brennan's own coat.

'Bren. Thank God you're here. You aren't going to leave again are you . . . you'll stay and let him make things up to you right?' She asks in a rush.

'I'm not leaving him again. If he gets through this, I'll be waiting.' She says.

Sweets and Daisy greet her with smiles; Hodgins grabs her hand and squeezes it and Max he just asks for forgiveness with his eyes for his slip up with Cam. Brennan smiles at her Dad and mouths 'it's okay.' Max smiles in relief, the tension in shoulders easing visibly.

'Have they said anything new? Let anyone see him? Cam asks.

There is a chorus of 'No's' and head-shakes.

Brennan taps Cam on the shoulder and asks her, 'Do you think they will let me see him? We could maybe tell them I'm his partner, even though technically that isn't true right now.'

Cam nods. 'They might, it can't hurt to ask. Wait here.' She says.

Cam makes her way over to the nurses' station and with her air of quiet authority she explains who she is and makes her request. The nurse nods and when Cam comes back she answers before Brennan can speak.

'They've been looking for you. The FBI still has you listed as Booth's emergency contact and you're still the one holding his medical power of attorney. They won't let anyone else but you in there right now.' She tells Brennan.

'But I can go in.?' Brennan clarifies.

Cam nods. 'Yeah, and for as long as you like apparently; guess someone warned them about you.' She adds wryly.

Brennan follows Cam back to the nurses' station and once she's provided ID to confirm her identity she follows the ICU nurse to Booth's room.

She enters with a million butterflies in her stomach, scared stiff she wills her legs to move her forward even as the sight of him so still and so pale and hooked up to monitors of every kind makes her want to vomit. His chest is bare, what she can see of it that isn't covered by white gauze bandages, and he looks smaller than she remembers, thinner, diminished somehow.

The Booth in her memory is large, loud and vibrant; strong, powerful, and elementally an alpha male in every way, dominant and proud of it. She looks down at her own form, while her abdomen has grown along with her pregnancy; she knows she's thinner in some respects too. It seems their separation has wrought physical changes in each of them, the emotional toll of living apart clearly does not agree with either her or him.

She takes a seat in the overly small plastic chair next to his bed. The monitors beep quietly and his chest rises and falls rhythmically, it's hypnotic and reassuring, and though she wishes he was doing it unaided, the breathing tube down his throat isn't the worst thing she's seen, so she picks up one large, and to her relief _warm_ hand and cuddles it to her face.

'I'm here Booth.' She whispers gently. 'If you can hear me, I'm here.'


	12. Spreading the News

**Chapter Eleven: Spreading the News.**

* * *

ICU, Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington, D.C

She wakes up stiff and with her lower back aching desperately. As Brennan raises her head from where she fell asleep, her hand still cradling Booth's she glances at the clock on the hospital room wall and realizes with a start that she must have been sleeping for four hours at the least. Popping her back as she arches it, she becomes aware of a real need for a bathroom and as her stomach rumbles insanely she wonders about food.

She's torn, part of her doesn't want to budge from this room until Booth comes back to her, but that's unlikely to happen in the immediate future. He's got to get through the next forty eight hours first, but somehow, somewhere deep inside her, there is this unshakable sensation that tells her he will recover. It will be a long road for him; she doesn't fool herself in this regard, because the sniper's bullet did a lot of damage. Not long after she came to sit with him his surgeon came to check on him and she had the chance to ask him for some answers. His responses were tough to hear, but they were encouraging.

The tough part, hearing that his lung collapsed, that he lost half his blood volume and went into cardiac arrest just as they got him into the OR, that the bullet nicked an artery close to his heart and that they had to place him on cardio-pulmonary bypass while they repaired it. They stopped his heart . . . it literally makes her cringe, but she prefers to focus on the fact that they managed to re-start it . . . eventually. Now changes in his blood pressure leading to further cardiac arrest are what they are most concerned about right now, but if he remains stable for a couple of days, then his chances of a complete recovery increase dramatically. He won't be running a marathon anytime soon, or returning to work for a few months, but if everything goes as the doctor's hope, he'll be as good as new in time. But he won't be allowed to wake up until they are more confident his prognosis is good, so as he's sedated she can leave him for periods and still ensure she's at his side when he wakes.

They both need that, she's as sure of it as she's ever been about anything. She ran from him and she's hiding a terrible secret, but she's back and she's going to face him and the repercussions head on . . . their history and her love for him demand nothing less of her now. Her stomach rumbles again and Brennan checks her watch, its midnight, she should go and see it anyone else is still here, she's sure Max will be, he wouldn't go anywhere without her. She pulls on her concealing jacket and wonders about a hotel, Booth is stable and she's exhausted, a few more hours sleep in a real bed after something to eat would be great right about now, that and a change of clothes, in her rush to get to Booth she didn't grab a thing from the cottage, she'll have to send out for some things clearly.

With a last long loving look at Booth she stands, squeezing his hand as she bends to press her lips to his forehead; it's reassuringly warm, but thankfully not feverish.

''I'll be back soon Booth . . . don't go anywhere.'' She tells him, the words deadly serious, not a trace of humor colors them, as actually losing him . . . this has always been her biggest fear, from far earlier in their partnership than she's wanted to acknowledge for years. Walking away from him, knowing that he was well and happy in his life was one thing, but a world without him is something else entirely.

She takes a deep breath and forces herself to move, there are things she must do.

In the ICU waiting room she finds Cam, Max and Hodgins all dozing in chairs, tapping her father on the shoulder she gently wakes him.

Max straightens and his shrewd gaze quickly assesses her. 'He's doing okay isn't he?' He asks.

Brennan nods, a small hopeful smile hovering around her mouth. 'He's hanging in there Dad, he's not breathing entirely on his own and he's heavily sedated, but he's with us. I spoke to his surgeon, he's cautiously optimistic, he came through the surgery and that's huge. All we can do now is wait and see. But he's going to make it . . . I know it.'

Max is greatly relieved to see her small smile, to see the light in her eyes again. He wants that fairytale ending for his little girl, the one where she finds that amazing connection Max once shared with her mother – that magic that really can draw two people together and fuse them into something special, something true. For Tempe to have that she has to have Booth, Max doesn't think anyone else has ever understood his daughter the way her former partner does – or did.

'You could use some food and a bed I'm guessing hunnie." Max says as he stretches and stands. 'Are you feeling confident enough about his condition to leave him for a little while?' He asks.

Brennan nods. 'They'll keep him under for a least the next two days, let him stabilize, before they let him come around. I'll be here when he wakes up, but until then I know the best thing for me is some proper rest and nutrition. We should get a hotel.'

'Hell no.' A male voice behind her says, and Brennan turns to find Hodgins staring at her.

'You and Max will stay with Ang and I, Ang would only go home if I stayed to wait for you and bring you back with me.'

Brennan shakes her head, staying with her friends under normal circumstances would be great, but she won't be able to conceal her pregnancy from them if she's under their roof.

'That's really not necessary Hodgins, Dad and I can find a hotel close by, it'll be easier.' She says practically.

'Brennan my house is only ten minutes drive from here, you're in my neighbourhood already and Angela is really cranky right now, please don't send me home alone.'

Max and Brennan exchange a look, Max knows of course what Tempe's concerns are, but then Brennan shrugs, accepting her fate. She got herself into this mess and it's far too late and she's too far along to get away with hiding this much longer. Besides, Ang and Hodgins are her friends, their understanding and support, even if they don't approve will go a long way to helping her reconcile what she's done.

She turns back to the entomologist smiling tiredly. 'Thanks Hodgins, Dad and I will be happy to accept your hospitality; I need to hit Ang up for the loan of some clothes right now anyway.' The wry note in her voice doesn't escape Max but bypasses Hodgins entirely.

'Great. Thanks Dr. B, Ang will be so happy, she's missed you these last three months more than I can say, having you home again means a lot to us both. And you are back right? To stay I mean.' He asks.

Brennan nods. 'I won't be going anywhere Hodgins. I have too much to make up for.' She replies enigmatically.

Brennan leaves Max to chat with Hodgins while she leaves her cell number at the nurses' station with instructions for them to call her with any change in his condition, no matter how minor. The ICU nurse on duty reaches over to squeeze Brennan's hand and Brennan's eyes dart to hers, suddenly concerned.

'Please don't look so worried Dr. Brennan; your partner is in good hands.' She says smiling warmly. 'It's amazing he's still with us, but after what that man did today . . . well, he's a hero to us all and I promise you everyone here will keep you posted all the time – day or night.' She hands Brennan a card with the ICU nurses' station phone number marked on it, Brennan pockets it with her thanks and heads back to find Max and Hodgins trying to persuade Cam to go home and get some rest too.

'Won't Michelle be worrying about you?' Brennan asks.

Cam shakes her head. 'She's staying with friends, I already arranged it. You should get some rest and then come back in the morning, I'm going to use my connections and get a cot here . . . no arguments Brennan, I'm happy to stay close by him, and you can take over again once you've slept and eaten. We just got you out of shock, I don't want you going back in.' The determination on Cam's beautiful face is all 'I'm your boss, do as you're told' but Brennan can read in her dark eyes that the doctor in Cam wants her to take care of her babies welfare first and foremost tonight – and as it makes it easier for her to leave knowing Cam is close by, which is most definitely the truth – then Brennan decides to simply go with Cam's instructions.

Impulsively she hugs Cam tightly. 'Thank you, for everything.' She whispers in her ear, before she pulls back and taking Max's arm she follows Hodgins to his car.

Cam watches them go, and then heads over to the nurses' station to get started on that cot.

* * *

They don't talk much on the way to Hodgins' house, but Max whistles softly as the huge gates to Jack and Angela's mansion swing open and then shut behind them.

'Nice pad young man. Either you get paid a lot more than anyone would think or your family is old money.' He says.

More comfortable in his skin now, than at anytime prior in his life, when he always wondered if people were his friends because they liked him or because he was disgustingly wealthy, Hodgins merely smiles and says, 'Mi casa et su casa.' He parks his SUV at the front of the sprawling house and leads his guests inside; Angela is waiting to ambush them the moment they step over the threshold. She pulls her husband tightly to her, as tightly as she can manage with the baby bump in the way and when she releases him she asks, 'Booth . . . he's still . . .'

'He's holding his own hunnie.' Hodgins tells her, his hand caressing the side of her face. 'How's everyone here?' His hand slips down to wander lovingly over the swell of her abdomen.

Angela smiles her heart-stopping smile; she looks much calmer and more relaxed than she did earlier at the hospital. 'Fine. I got some sleep, I ate some ice-cream, I'm good Jack.' She says, before she turns to Brennan and looks her over with a critical eye.

'Well you've slept some, probably fell asleep in the chair by his bed, but you look like you could use some food and a good nights sleep Bren.'

Brennan smiles, she's feeling increasingly weary at this point, the strain of today, the shock and the lack of food are telling on her.

'I'm okay Ang. But I could really go for a sandwich or something and if you wouldn't mind showing me where you're going to put us to sleep, there's something I need to ask you.' She says.

Ang nods. 'Jack take Max to the kitchen, I made a mountain of sandwiches earlier and there's beer in the refrigerator too if you want. I'm going to show Brennan to the guest wing and get her settled, we'll come and join you in a bit.' She steers Brennan towards the giant double staircase and Brennan follows Angela down a the east corridor at the top, four doors down Angela leads Brennan into the houses largest guest room and Brennan eyes the king-sized bed with it's gorgeous coverings longingly. She crosses over to it and sits on the side, closing her eyes for a moment and blowing out a long sigh.

A minute later she feels the bed dip next to her as Angela takes a seat alongside her and when she feels Angela's head lean against her shoulder the reality of just how much she's missed her best friend overwhelms her.

'I'm sorry I ran out on you too.' She says quietly. 'I'm sorry I haven't been around to support you through your pregnancy . . . I haven't been as good a friend as I should have been Ang, can you forgive me?'

Angela sighs. 'There's nothing to forgive Bren. I understand why you left, if I'd believed as you did, loving Booth the way you do, I don't think I could have stuck around under those circumstances either.'

'Don't be easy on me Ang. I should have trusted that I could tell you were I was, I know you wouldn't have told him . . . it's just . . . .' She stops, wondering how to go about this.

'It's just that there's something you're not telling me isn't there. There's more to you leaving than Booth telling you he proposed to Hannah.' Angela says. Brennan isn't surprised Angela has figured this out; her friend is uncanny like that, at least where she is concerned.

'Yeah.' She admits after a pause. 'There's more. I did something really terrible the day Booth told me about his proposal, something that when Booth finds out, could destroy our relationship forever Ang, even if he still loves me.'

Angela reaches over and grabs Brennan. ''He loves you Bren. He adores you, the 'I can't live with out you' kind of adores you. You haven't seen him since you left, you haven't seen the devastation your disappearance wrought, and he knows he brought it on himself.'

When Brennan doesn't immediately reply Angela lifts her head and glances over at her friend. She can't see Brennan's face from the side, it's hidden behind a curtain of dark hair, but she can see tears dropping from her friends chin and down into her lap.

Tightening her grip on Brennan's hand she asks. 'Tell me. Whatever it is it can't be as terrible as you think, you aren't capable of terrible Bren, you just aren't.'

'I have no excuse Ang, there is no excuse . . . even a broken heart doesn't give me the license to do what I did.' She mumbles miserably.

'Tell me Bren. Right now, you're scaring me.'

Brennan frees her hand and stands up. Turning to face Angela she takes a quick deep breath and takes her coat off.

Angela's eyes flare as Brennan reveals secret. The changes to her slender form obvious immediately.

'You're pregnant Bren. I don't understand . . . I mean you're . . . how pregnant are you?' She asks finally.

'Four months.'

Angela frowns, Brennan looks much more pregnant than that, and then it dawns on her. 'That's more than one . . . right?' She asks.

Brennan nods. 'Twins Ang.'

Angela stares open mouthed, her brain struggling to make sense of what she's seeing and why in heavens name Brennan would consider her pregnancy as something terrible that she did, and then Angela remembers.

'Oh God. You used Booth's stuff to do this . . . and he has no idea.' She says, knowing immediately that she's right by the look of sheer misery shining in her friends' bright blue eyes.

Brennan nods again. 'So you see Ang, I am capable of terrible . . . and when Booth wakes up and I tell him, it might wreck our relationship beyond any repairing.'

Speechless, Angela can only nod as she agrees.


	13. Out of Danger

**Authors Notes: Firstly thanks again to all the reviewers, you've been the muse lately when the show and Booth's awful proposal kinda sucked all the inspiration right out of me. I honestly was in the camp of fans who did not think that he would actually go through with it. That he would balk at the crucial moment and realize that he could not move on from Brennan now that he knew about her feelings for him. So when he followed through, as lame and as quick as the proposal itself was, it really threw me. I am still of the belief that it's fixable, this season I mean. I just have no idea how now and I hate Hannah, I really do, for taking what she did from him, for standing between him and Brennan, and for doing it all the time knowing that she wasn't capable of giving him the future he wants. Bitch. **

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Out of Danger.**

* * *

Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington, D.C

June 1st 2011

He transitions from dreams of her loving, laughing face, her warm sweetly-scented body curved against him to a sensation of tightness, of pain, radiating from the center of his chest outwards. Instead of her voice, low and sultry, whispering wicked, wanton things eagerly into his ears, he's suddenly conscious of soft beeping sounds, and the faint thud of footsteps combined with distant, unfamiliar voices.

The smell of antiseptic hangs in the air he breathes and as he comes to consciousness he's aware of a bright light beyond the shutters of his eyelids. He cracks open first one eye, then the other, and the generic ceiling tiles over his head greet his reemergence.

Memory returns. Of months of searching, and long lonely days filled only with the complete absence of her. Worse than his months in Afghanistan when he was constantly occupied and seeing Hannah, the days stuck in D.C with no word of her, cases worked and solved, but not as quickly, not as completely, his soul aching every moment for what he'd lost. Begging Angela for help, when pride forgotten and unable to think of anywhere else to look he'd gone to see her, facing her anger down with nothing but the simple truth of his despair. An instant of decision when the red targeting dot appeared on Angela's torso, the sharp and deadly burn of the gunshot through his chest . . . then nothing but . . . dreams, perfect, beguiling, dreams of Brennan . . . holding him, loving him, always with him.

But Brennan is gone, and apparently he's not dead, if the throbbing in his chest and the ceiling tiles over his head are any accurate indication. He doubts they have ceiling tiles in hell, and he would only ever be in heaven if Brennan was with him.

He tries experimentally to move everything, one small movement at a time. Part of him is truly amazed to find himself awake; when he stepped in front of Angela he was very aware of what he was doing. Giving his life up to protect her and her baby, he had only a heartbeat to make the choice and he did it gladly, with no regret, so to find he's still alive is . . . amazing. He can move all his toes and all his fingers, so Booth experimentally lifts his head and when he glances down his amazement at being alive transmutes to something else . . . as his greedy gaze falls on his missing partner, restored to him and sleeping with her head on the bed by his thighs, her face pillowed on her hand.

That she's here, that she would come . . . this tells him so much. As much as he's ached and soul-searched and wondered over and over again at his actions leading up to her running, he's also wondered at the depth of feeling for him her leaving demonstrated.

She left her entire life behind because she believed he was getting married to another woman, there is only one explanation for that – that Bones loves him and could not stand by and watch him moving away from her.

And now she's back. He wonders as his eyes rove her beloved and familiar face, what she learned that brought her home again? Was it only his shooting? And is she back to stay, or just waiting to make sure he would live? Will she disappear again? Or does she know that Hannah is gone and that he's been seeking her everywhere? Will that make any difference? He prays she'll at least give him the chance to ask for her forgiveness and to tell her he loves her.

Booth takes a deep breath, then wishes fervently that he hadn't as pain lances right through him causing a soft hiss of discomfort to escape him, and just like that Brennan's eyes open and latch onto his and his breath is stolen from him entirely by the force of emotion in her gaze.

He's never seen her eyes blaze like this, tears swimming in them, the vivid blue aflame with a greedy hunger he doesn't comprehend fully as she scans his face, her hand fastening onto his and tightening immediately.

'Booth . . . you're in pain . . . lie back, breath slowly . . . let me get the nurse.' She says.

He squeezes her hand back. 'It's nothing. God Bones . . . I can't believe you're here.'

Her eyes close as she replies. 'When I heard . . . what you'd done . . . I thought you were going to die Booth . . .' She shudders involuntarily as the words leave her mouth.

He maintains his grip on her hand, waiting for her eyes to open before he says, 'I'm hard to kill apparently. I'm so happy to see you Bones . . . I'm so sorry, about Hannah, about everything . . . I've missed you more than you can ever imagine Temperance.'

A sad smile fleetingly crosses her expression, so sad that his chest hurts again with a pain that has nothing to do with getting shot. Oh God, if she's going to leave him again now that he's awake.

'Don't leave me Bones; I'm begging you . . . please . . . stay with me.' Broken tones stumble over the words, but he has to say them . . . that smile was so, so sad.

'Hush.' She whispers. Then she surprises him by bringing their joined hands up to her lips and brushing a soft kiss across the back of his. 'I'll stay if you want me too; for as long as you want me too.' Her words should be comforting, but he knows her, knows her so well, something is wrong, he can just sense it.

'What is it?' He asks. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing.' She answers a fraction too quickly for it to be convincing. 'You'll be okay now. The worst is over Booth, you just need to heal.'

He hadn't been worried about that he realizes, as dying isn't nearly as scary as losing Bones is. Still, he hesitates between the sense that something is off and not wanting to push anything right now when she's here and he needs her to remain here. The pain in his chest, the one from getting shot is growing by the moment now he's aware, and so he back off, smiling weakly at her.

'I think I might need that nurse after all Bones. Pain meds are wearing a bit thin and my chest really hurts.'

The admission has her reaching for the call button next to the bed at once. She presses it and then strokes the back of his arm with her free hand, the sensation is soothing and he closes his eyes to simply enjoy it as she tries to take his mind off the ache in his sternum.

'How long have I been out?' He asks conversationally.

'You've been kept sedated until this morning; they didn't want to let you come around until your condition had stabilized. The shooting was three days ago.' She answers.

'How bad was it?'

When she doesn't reply he pushes. 'Bones . . . how bad was it?'

'Bad enough that even your surgeon considers it something of a miracle that you're going to live.' She says.

'Will I be as good as new?'

'Eventually yes. You almost died Booth, you arrested in the OR . . . 'She trails off and he opens his eyes to see her fighting back tears.

'I'm still here Bones. It's okay.' He says gently, shaken and gratified to see her so emotional on his account. He remembers his 'fake death' and his 'fake funeral' and how hurt he was inside that she was so easily able to deal with it. Clearly she's as changed as he could have ever wanted her to be with regards to her emotions and him.

It gives him hope. Hope that between them they can fix what they broke. He's certainly willing.

Brennan swipes at eyes. 'Sorry.' She mumbles. 'You scared me Booth. I've never been so frightened.'

'I would never leave you if I had a choice Bones. If I fought hard to live, I did it for you.' He says with simple sincerity. Hoping she'll hear the truth in his words, and know that he loves her; know how sorry he is about Hannah.

The nurse arrives before Brennan can reply and as soon as Booth's attention is momentarily off of her she stands, letting go of his hand and getting out of the nurses way as she checks over his vitals and turns the pain meds in his IV up.

'I'll be right back Booth.' She tells him as she catches his watchful gaze, sees and understands the slight fear she can detect in his dark eyes as she goes to leave the room, he wonders if she's really coming back.

'I just want to tell everyone you're awake. They're so worried Booth, and they'll be able to visit you now. I WILL be back.' She says to reassure him. She turns quickly, hoping he doesn't see beyond the loose shapeless blouse over her jeans, anything that would clue him in to her condition before she's ready to reveal it.

Once outside in the corridor she leans against the wall and tries to calm the frantic beating of her heart.

Booth is out of danger, he's awake and he's very obviously hoping they will reconcile their differences now that she's returned to him.

But that fact remains, what will he say once he knows about the twins?

What will he do?

The man in that hospital bed clearly still loves her, she can see this, and she can feel this, just as she loves him in return. But will he ever see what she did as evidence of that? That she conceived these children BECAUSE of that love? Because she was seeking something of his, some part of him to hold onto, no matter how misguided.

Brennan knows when she goes back into that room; the time will finally have arrived to find out.


	14. Confessional

**Chapter Thirteen: Confessional.**

* * *

Sibley Memorial Hospital,

Washington, D.C

June 1st 2011

* * *

She ends up staying out of Booth's room for a couple of hours. The ICU staff are happy to let the others visit him now, but they want to keep it to a single person at a time and so Brennan lets their friends visit, and takes the time to figure out how and when to tell Booth about her pregnancy.

Part of her reluctance stems from a concern about his health, not that he won't recover, she knows now that the worst is definitely over, but she doesn't want to stress him in anyway, or elevate his blood-pressure, and her news has the potential to do both.

But most of her is just afraid that once she's told him, he'll never look at her in the same way again, and the loss of his trust and respect is something she knows she'll never fully recover from because it's as priceless to her as he is.

She rehearses what to say over and over in her head, but nothing she plans sounds right, not that there is a 'right' way to say to someone, 'FYI, I used your stuff when you told me not too, and you're on the hook for twins here . . . Happy Father's Day!'

'Just be honest about it Bren . . . and I mean emotionally honest, not just factually honest.' Angela says as she comes to take a seat beside her best friend; easing her rotund form down slowly now that she has very little time remaining in her own pregnancy.

Brennan looks sideways at Ang, amazed as always that Ang always seems to understand the direction of her thoughts when she's saying nothing.

'I don't understand what that means.' She says, confused further as the corners of Angela's mouth twitch upwards in a smile.

'Yes.' She says. 'You do.'

Brennan shakes head. 'Honesty is a factual accounting; emotion has nothing to do with it. Being honest with Booth means telling him factually what I did.' She replies.

'Bull.' Angela retorts. 'Factually, yes you need to tell Booth what you did to end up pregnant with his twins. But the decision you made to conceive using his semen was something you did entirely based on emotion. In order for Booth to understand that decision, for him to empathize with what you did and forgive you; then you have to explain to him the emotional state that you were in at the time and that you made this decision under the influence of your emotions.'

'I was going to tell him that.' Brennan says.

'You have to start with that Bren. You have to tell Booth again that you love him and use the words 'love him' in a sentence. He has to understand that first, the depth of that love, before you can explain how heartbroken his engagement left you. Leave your scientist self outside that room Bren; you have to speak only from your heart right now.'

Brennan nods looking thoughtful but she says nothing for a long moment. Finally she meets Angela's gaze again.

'What do you think he'll say?' She asks. It's a question she's asked Angela before, the night she came home.

'I told you I think he'll initially be angry, but I still believe he'll understand Bren, in the end.'

'Sweets doesn't think I should say anything until Booth gets out of the hospital.' She confesses.

Angela looks puzzled. 'Did he say why?' She asks.

Brennan nods. 'He thinks Booth is already feeling guilty about Hannah, about hurting me and that he'll react badly to the news as a way of minimizing his guilt.'

'I think Sweets is underestimating Booth. What do you think?' Angela asks softly.

'I think that the longer I wait to tell him, the worse he'll feel, the bigger the betrayal it seems.' Brennan replies.

Angela smiles. 'Good girl, right answer.'

'So you think Sweets is wrong even though he's the psychologist?'

Angela's smile widens. 'Sweets has been wrong as often as he's been right with you two. This time I think he's wrong.'

'Then I'll do what feels right to me and tell him now.' Brennan says, sighing hopelessly.

Angela reaches out to squeeze her friends hand gently. 'No time like the present.' She says firmly.

Brennan straightens her shoulders and stands, she squeezes Angela's hand back before releasing it and then she heads back towards Booth's private room without a backward glance.

* * *

She opens the door slowly, wondering whose visit she's disturbing, when she sees that it's Cam she finds herself smiling shyly at her former boss. Cam must read her intentions in her face somehow, because she immediately excuses herself from Booth. Rising she leans over his bed to kiss him on the forehead, before she grabs her purse and pulls Brennan into a quick fierce hug on her way past. Brennan returns it just as fiercely, taking Cam's whispered word 'Courage' as a sign that Cam also thinks as she and Angela do that this cannot be dragged out any further.

When her eyes find Booth's she notices the relief in them at her reappearance. He smiles awkwardly, and Brennan's heart misses a beat in her chest to see his color returning, he looks better already.

'What did I miss?' She says in as light a tone as she can manage.

'Short visits from everyone.' He says, 'and I met my surgeon while you were gone . . . he's very happy with me, I get to move out of ICU tomorrow.'

'That's wonderful Booth.' Brennan says as she takes the seat next to his bed that Cam vacated for her.

She waits, but Booth says nothing else. In fact he stares at his feet and a pensive expression clouds his handsome face.

'Are you in pain Booth?' She asks, reaching automatically for his hand.

Booth shakes his head. 'No I'm fine Bones. They turned my morphine up now that I'm awake. I feel a little lightheaded from it, but that's how I usually feel on morphine.' He says wryly, and still not looking at her.

'What's wrong then?' She asks.

'I'm afraid you're just waiting until you know I'm going to really be okay and then you're going to vanish on me again.' He says quietly, Brennan's stomach tightens at the pain in his voice.

'I told you I would stay as long as you wanted me too. I wasn't lying to you Booth. I'm not leaving again.' She tells him sincerely.

Finally Booth looks up and meets her gaze. 'Then why do I feel like you're about to tell me something that will break my heart Bones?'

His hand twists and then tightens around hers, so that he's holding her captive. 'I don't want to lose you again.' He whispers brokenly.

Her eyes flood with tears and she's unable to stop them from spilling over and slipping down her cheeks.

'Please Bones. I know something is wrong . . . you can tell me whatever it is . . . you can tell me anything.' He says trustingly. She hates herself so badly in this moment, she hates not feeling worthy of his trust.

'You're right.' She mumbles around a quiet sob. 'And I will tell you Booth, but I need you to promise me something first.'

Her request, her tears, iron bars snap into place around his heart, and they squeeze painfully, she's scaring him now.

'What?' He says.

'That you'll hear me out before you say anything.' She replies.

'That's it?' He asks.

Brennan nods. 'That's it. I talk, you listen, and you don't talk . . . not until I'm done.'

'Okay. I promise.' Booth tells her.

'It started with what I told you at the end of the Lauren Eames case.' She begins. 'That case Booth, it made me face some things about myself that I knew, but wouldn't allow myself to acknowledge until that point. The most important being that I'd made a mistake turning you down last year. Seeing you moving on with Hannah . . . Booth it was . . . painful. It was . . . heart-crushing.' She darts a glance at his face and sees him watching her solemnly, but he respects his promise and says nothing. She looks away and continues.

'I told you I would adjust, and I really believed at the time that I would, but as the days went by I found that I couldn't, that I didn't know how to move forward, when all I wanted to do was move back, but you were so happy Booth, with her, and I loved you enough to want you happy even though it was hurting me.' She stops here, his sharp intake of breath momentarily making her pause. She risks another glance at him, and then understands that it's not pain in his face but amazement at her choice of words.

'I was coping.' She continues. 'As well as I could, I kept hoping it would get easier, and I made some decisions about my future that I thought would help, but you looked at me differently after that night Booth. Like you pitied me somehow, and then you told me you'd asked Hannah to marry you. That expression Booth 'hit me like a ton of bricks' – your news was way, way worse. So I fled. I knew I could not continue to be in your life when you told me that, I just didn't have the strength to watch you building a life with her, a life that would take you further and further from me. I was more distraught at this point that I've ever been in my whole life Booth, please believe that, and I wasn't thinking much. I was facing losing you and finding I could not compartmentalize it, I couldn't push it away, it was simply overwhelming.' She stops again, risks another glance at him. He looks as choked up as she is, so she continues.

'I'd already decided after the Eames case to make some changes, to go forward in my life and minimize my regrets. So while you had Hannah, I decided I would re-visit my desire to become a mother. I went back to the Douglas Clinic, I picked a sperm donor, I started the fertility treatments to maximize my odds, and then the day of my insemination you told me you were getting married . . . and I love you Booth. If you believe nothing else about me, you should believe that, because I have changed, I have and that's the most important thing about me – my love for you.'

Brennan gently frees her hand from under his and scooting closer she places his hand on her abdomen, moving it over the swell of their children. Booth's eyes flare with awareness of her condition; Brennan bows her head and forces herself to finish her confession.

'There was supposed to be another father Booth. I never intended to violate your trust, but the reality of a life devoid of you . . . I wanted something, I needed something, and so I took something Booth. I took what you'd given me and I used it . . . this pregnancy . . . these children I'm carrying Booth . . . they're yours.'

In the end it comes out in a rush of words, and in the wake of them all she's conscious of through her sobs is the hypnotic motion of his hand over her belly, pass after pass after pass.


	15. Reactions & Revelations

**Authors Note: Thank you, to all of the reviewers for your encouragement and enthusiasm for this story. I've been finding continuing it SO hard after Booth's proposal to Hannah and it's all of you that I'm going to finish it for. I apologize in advance that this chapter is shorter than I intended, but the Booth in my head would not let me drag his reaction out, he was very firm about it.  
**

**I want to dedicate this chapter to Jenlovebones, and I hope she likes it. Thanks for 'pimping' me on Twitter – even though I have no idea what that means as I'm a social media ignorant for the most part.**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Reactions & Revelations.**

* * *

Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington, D.C

June 1st 2011

* * *

There are moments in your life when the sheer number of emotions pouring through you at a given moment are too numerous to allow you to accurately gauge exactly _what_ you are feeling. You don't know, you simply can't tell, and would not, if asked, be able to articulate your state properly.

Booth has absolutely not a clue in this moment on how he feels, what he feels, what he should be feeling.

Bones is pregnant. And it's not a coma-dream, or the plot for a novel, it's a scientific fact, the evidence of which lies under his hand as he finds himself unable to stop the movement of that appendage, it's entranced by the reality of the burgeoning swell under his palm.

His mind latches onto that thought, holds it tightly, examines it greedily; he is _entranced_ by the feeling of her swollen abdomen. And just like that his mind leaps to another thought, another feeling, analyzing and cataloging as he goes. _Possessive _his inner alpha-male is leaping to the fore, champing at the bit, delighting in the knowledge that he's going to be a father again. That Parker will have siblings, be an older brother, just like he himself is – it's what he's always wanted, more of what he has with Parker.

Then another feeling emerges from the maelstrom in his brain, _relief_ that she didn't go ahead with her original donor, for if his Bones had gone that route, he understands in a blinding moment of clarity that he would have been devastated to see her pregnant with another man's child.

Relief transmutes to _anger_ and for a moment he's unable to see for the fury raging in his head and pouring through his being and in that moment his hand stills its ceaseless motions over her baby bump and clenches, pulling back, whipping back in fact as if burned.

She doesn't look up. His vision clears of it's red fog and she isn't looking at him, or reaching for him, she's replaced his hand with her own and continued where he left off, soothing herself, he thinks as she sobs very quietly, seeming awfully small beside him.

The fury rages a moment more, then subsides utterly, and for a moment he's simply numb.

Lesser emotions follow, become apparent as the moment of numbness passes.

There's _hurt_ that they've grown so apart that she would even consider motherhood alone.

There's _loss_ mingled with _grief_ that their children, his and hers, would be conceived without making love being any part of it, for once upon a time he backed away from being her donor for this very unspoken reason. He'd had hopes back then of a future with her and so he'd cloaked his backing out in the terms of 'wanting to be involved' and 'wanting to be the Dad' as if with his partner having his baby he wouldn't have been both of those things anyway.

He wonders at the loss of his anger. It was raging so hotly, but only for brief time and in its wake he knows why he was angry and doesn't understand that very brevity. He should feel some sense of betrayal that she would get herself pregnant by his donation when they'd agreed she would not proceed. He should feel betrayed that she would consider having his child and keeping that child from him. He should feel betrayed . . . so why doesn't he?

He was angry only moments ago, furious even, blinded with rage, and all of it was directed at her . . . at her impulsiveness, her selfishness, her lack of strength, then it turned inward at the sight of her so diminished. He was furious at his own stupidity, his own impatience, his own lack of faith and all the ways it allowed him to betray her first. Maybe that's why he doesn't feel betrayed; he doesn't think he has the right to that emotion.

_Confused_. That's what he feels right now.

_Overwhelmed_. By the magnitude of what's coming for him and Bones.

And finally _grateful_ that he's alive, and she's come back, and that they still have a chance to fix this giant disaster that their partnership has become, because one shining truth still remains.

He loves her. He always has. From the very first moment he knew she was special, that together they were special. It hasn't changed. Through everything that they've been through, all the misunderstandings and romantic entanglements with others, together, what they have between them has remained.

And she's said she loves him.

That when she thought she was losing him, she stopped thinking like Dr. Brennan and instead reacted as Temperance.

And really, getting past Dr. Brennan to get Temperance to admit that she loves him and needs him, every bit as much as he loves and needs her is all he's ever wanted.

Calmly he breaks the oppressive silence that remains now that her sobs have settled into hiccups of despair. She still isn't looking up, and he cannot stand it a moment longer.

'Look at me.' He asks his voice soft, warm, gentle.

He actually smiles inwardly when she defiantly shakes her head.

'Please Bones.' He tries again.

And gets another head shake. 'I'm sorry.' She whispers, so brokenly it breaks his heart. 'I'm so sorry Booth . . . I know you must hate me right now, I just . . . I don't want to see that in your eyes.' She finishes.

'You're stronger than that.' He replies.

'I used to be.' She mumbles.

'Until I broke you.' He says.

That brings her head up, and there is puzzlement in her eyes, his comment is unexpected.

'I'm sorry.' He says with a small sad smile. 'I'm sorry about Hannah. I'm sorry I told you I was moving on. I'm sorry I rejected you that night, after the Eames case, when I should have stopped that damn car, taken you in my arms and held you. Told you Hannah wasn't important, that she was a band-aid on misery and that it's always been you Bones . . . I love you so much.'

Puzzlement turns to stunned surprise in her aqua gaze.

'You can't. Not after this.' She says, pointing at her belly.

'I have no choice whatever in the matter Bones.' He says. 'Someone told me once that the 'heart wants what the heart wants' and that we don't have any real choice in it when it comes to love. It simply is. I love you Bones . . . always have and always will. Even when I don't agree with you, when we fight, when I dislike your choices, even in the moments when I dislike you . . . I love you anyway. And even now, and even with this, I can't not love you.'

He reaches his hand out towards her stomach again, and she shifts closer, eyes slipping closed on a sigh of relief when he resumes his curious, questing caress.

'But this is not how I pictured this moment in my life. Not how I wanted to see you having our children. I wanted . . . 'Booth trails off.

Brennan's eyes flutter open. "What?' She asks.

'Babies should be conceived out of love Bones.' He sighs.

Brennan swallows, 'They were.' She entreats him. 'They were.'

'I meant by making love, Bones.' He clarifies. 'You should be pregnant because I made love to you . . Not because. . . . I've never made love to you.'

A heavy silence descends; Booth gently removes his hand again, and lies back, closing his eyes, a sense of loss once more enveloping him.

'Will you?' Her quiet question seems like a yell in the silence.

Booth's eyes open. 'What?'

'Will you make love to me, before they come, so that we have that Booth, that connection, that knowledge, the both of us? If you'll do that, I'll know you can forgive me for this, that we have a chance still.' She says.

She reaches out to stroke the side of his face.

Booth looks long and hard into her eyes, Brennan holds his gaze awkwardly, something about the sheer intensity of it unnerving her slightly.

'Yes.' He answers finally. 'But I want you to promise me something Bones.' He asks.

'What?'

'That once I get out of here, you'll live with me until these children are born; and that afterward you'll consider making that a permanent arrangement.' He replies. 'If we are going to do this, we are doing it all in Bones, I need you to make that commitment.'

Brennan smiles, delight, amazement, hope and happiness flood her face.

'Gladly.' She responds, burying her face against his neck. 'Gladly.'

Booth's hand comes up to tangle in her hair, and the sensation washing through him settles like a blanket covering the both of them. _Peace, _in this moment, he finally knows peace.


	16. The Past shall Haunt the Present

**Authors Note: **

**Sorry for the long delay in this update. I knew where this story was going, but I also knew who had to show up in this chapter and I knew I had to write her completely differently than I wanted too. As I've stated before, I hate Hannah – the show version – because in the end she was a selfish, self-centered cow who wanted to enjoy our man Booth while it was convenient, and was never really in it for the long haul. She used him, and even though I believe he used her too – the show doesn't reflect my desires, they want us to believe Booth really loved her. But in this story Booth broke up with Hannah when Brennan left him, and he broke Hannah's heart, so Hannah can't be a bitch here – you see the dilemma. Anyway I digress, sorry for the delay, here is the next chapter, let me know if you enjoy it & try not to hate me for having her in this tale, (ducks as people throw things) she's the link between the sniper in this story and the shootings and she's not, I repeat NOT going to upset anything with regards to Booth and Brennan here.**

**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: And the Past Shall Haunt the Present.**

* * *

Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington, D.C

June 5th 2011.

* * *

A gentle hand shakes her awake and when Brennan opens her eyes she finds the last person she would have expected to see smiling at her apologetically.

"Hannah! What are you doing here?" She whispers, rolling sideways and sitting upright she lowers her legs to the floor next to Booth's hospital bed where she was quietly sleeping next to him, her head at his shoulder.

Brennan takes a moment to steady both her legs and her suddenly quaking nerves, before she casts a glance at the still slumbering Booth and motions that Hannah should follow her from the room.

She's practically living in Booth's hospital room now that he's been moved from the ICU to a private room on another floor. His condition has dramatically improved from critical to stable and he's recovering remarkably quickly, a testament both to the excellent care he's received and his physical condition prior to the shooting.

Personally though she never would have imagined he'd accept her and her pregnancy so quickly, he's embraced both, and the last few days they've existed in a peaceful bubble of contented couple-hood the likes of which she's never known before. It's the best of their partnership mixed with the deep love that they feel for each other, and it shimmers around them as an almost tangible sense of completeness.

She knows it's somewhat of an illusion, they have healing still to do, but they've talked and talked the last few days, in between sleeping like the dead the pair of them, Booth's body is busy healing and hers has been sleep deprived and pregnant for months. They've both needed the catch-up. They've aired everything, all the hurt and the misunderstandings, and mindful of both of their physical conditions they've not allowed anger to color any of their interactions. She doesn't think she's ever been this honest or open with anyone before, and it's refreshing to feel so accepted, understood and loved all at the same time.

So as she quietly opens the door, passing through it with Hannah on her heels, she's full of contradictory impulses and emotions. She can't imagine for the life of her what Hannah must be thinking, but her pregnancy is clearly visible through the somewhat fitted top she's wearing, and Hannah caught her sleeping next to Booth . . . she wonders what she could possibly want?

She pulls the door to the room closed as quietly as possible to avoid waking him.

"I'm so sorry to wake you Temperance." Hannah begins as Brennan turns to face her.

Brennan shrugs. "It's fine." She says. There is a long awkward pause before Hannah smiles openly and Brennan remembers that she respected Hannah before she vanished, liked her even, except for the pain her being with Booth was causing.

"You look well Temperance . . . blooming even." Hannah adds.

Brennan glances down at her defensive posture; her arms folded protectively across her abdomen, and she makes a conscious effort to relax her stance.

"Thanks." She replies. "Sooo. . ." she says trying to kick-start the conversation.

"You want to know why I'm here." Hannah fills in.

"There is that yes." Brennan says, finding a small, still somewhat sleepy smile.

Hannah motions to a row of hard plastic chairs a small way down the corridor from Booth's room, "Why don't we take a seat Temperance . . . I'm afraid I have quite a lot to tell you."

Both women take a seat and Brennan is surprised when Hannah reaches out a hand to grasp one of her own. She waits for Hannah to talk, sensing that Hannah is struggling to find the words to begin.

"I'm sorry Temperance, for disturbing you so late." She says, and Brennan glances over at the clock on the corridor wall to find its 3am.

"Before I begin . . . how is he?" She asks.

Brennan smiles genuinely. "Recovering. He's going to be good as new in time Hannah, but he's very lucky to be alive." She tells her.

Hannah's shoulders lower, some of the tension leaving her frame. "I'm so glad. I just got in from the airport right now. I've been back in Afghanistan since we split up." She says. "When we got news from home about the sniper attacks in D.C, and then news that Seeley had been shot. The details in the report indicated only that he wasn't expected to live . . . I got transportation arranged back as quickly as I could . . . "She stops. Aware that Brennan's eyes have flared and that Seeley's partner looks nervous. "I just wanted to come home and make sure he was okay . . . I do love him Temperance . . . even if he left me to be with you."

"I'm sorry you got hurt Hannah." Brennan says softly. "Booth and I made a mess of our relationship and he let you get caught in the crossfire."

Hannah nods. "And that's why I'm here. I think this might . . . I think I might be to blame for this." She says.

Brennan looks completely puzzled. "I don't understand." She says. "You didn't shoot Booth."

Hannah takes a deep breath before she continues. "But I think I might be able to help you catch the man who did do this to Seeley . . . the sniper . . . I think I know why he did it. And I'm so sorry Temperance . . . I want you to tell me you believe that . . . before I tell you anymore. I would never, ever hurt either you or Seeley, even though he broke my heart. I was angry . . . . I didn't mean it." She rambles, her blue eyes filling with tears.

Brennan squeezes the hand holding hers. "I know you would never hurt us." She says.

"I wouldn't." Hannah replies. "I've done a lot of thinking since the day Seeley found out you'd vanished, the day he explained the real nature of his feelings for you and he ended our relationship. At first I was furious that he'd used me to try and move past his emotional attachment to you, and I was mad at you for not figuring out sooner what you wanted from him. That anger lasted a month . . . tops, and then I started to realize that though I loved him, I never really knew him, not completely, and I realized that we would never have lasted. We want completely different things from our futures. Seeley wants marriage and children and forever . . . and I'm not capable of giving him any of that . . . but I think now that you are." Hannah indicates the bump under Brennan's shirt.

Brennan nods. "I want what he wants Hannah . . . much as it's taken me years to figure it out. I love him." She says simply.

Hannah grins, but the tears don't leave her eyes. "I'm happy for you – really I am Temperance. At least now I am . . . but when I was angry and hurt I said the wrong things to the wrong person, and that's the real reason I'm here."

"The sniper." Brennan says.

Hannah nods slowly. "The sick bastard who almost killed Seeley."

"You believe you know this individual Hannah?" Brennan asks.

"I think he might have done this, BECAUSE of me . . . because he's infatuated with me and he blames Seeley for making me unhappy."

"Go on." Brennan urges.

"When I returned to Afghanistan I re-joined the army Ranger unit Seeley was stationed with when I met him. I'm sure you know Seeley was there to train the Ranger and Special Forces Units in FBI interrogation techniques as well as offering his insights on criminal investigations."

Brennan nods.

"The unit has several trained snipers assigned to each detachment." Hannah adds.

"Men Booth would have met and trained while he was there."

"Exactly." Hannah says. "Before Seeley and I got involved, there was another guy there I'd been seeing . . . very casually on my part, but he's several years younger than me and I think it meant a lot more to him. I broke it off with him when Seeley and I hooked up, and when I returned to the unit, I was hurt . . . I hooked up with him again . . . and I was a little bitter I guess . . . at least for a while."

Brennan interrupts. "You think this man is involved with Booth's shooting? You think he arranged it?"

Hannah shakes her head. "I think he did it Temperance. He finished his deployment and he wanted me to come back with him, to continue our relationship stateside – after all he'd seen me follow Seeley a few months before. I told him no, and he left. But I was still hurting then, I told him I didn't want to be with him because Seeley broke my heart."

"That doesn't mean he's the one who shot Booth . . . or the other two victims." Brennan replies.

"He's a trained sniper Temperance. He's young, impulsive and infatuated with me, and he believes he can't have me because of Seeley." Hannah adds.

"That's all circumstantial."

"And he sent me this." Hannah says, pulling a letter from the pocket of her jacket.

Brennan unfolds the letter and reads the contents, eyes widening in understanding.

"I've told the FBI already." Hannah tells her. "I faxed them a copy two days ago when I got it, then I got myself back here . . . I want to help catch him."

Brennan looks up from the note and her gaze meets the journalists. "Thank you." She says. "I'm sure Cam and the FBI will want to talk to you in the morning."

Brennan looks down again at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand. There isn't much to read.

_Hannah,_

_I miss you with every breath; I can't bear this life without you. He stole your heart from me and he doesn't even want it, but I'll make him pay for doing this to you . . . I'll prove to you my love is_ _truer than his could ever be. _

_And when I've taken the ones he does care for away from him, I'll end him and you'll be free. You'll be mine. Forever._

_Jacob._


	17. Broadsky, Birth & baby Booth's

**Authors Note: So for the purposes of this tale, I wanted my version of Broadsky to be a young, foolish, love-struck and slightly psychotic army ranger sniper. So picture Arnold Vosloo at twenty five, instead of his actual forty-eight years of age – and just go with me here. Oh, and don't know if anyone cares, but the delay in posting this is because I've finally nailed down a plot-line for a sequel to 'Sebastian & Therese', and I'm so excited about it, that all my creative energies have been used up figuring it out, and thus the delay. I do however promise to complete this tale, preferably before I begin to actually write the other one;)**

**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Broadsky, Birth & baby Booth's.**

* * *

Sibley Memorial Hospital

Washington D.C.

June 8th 2011

* * *

The three days following Hannah's re-appearance in D.C, and her startling information regarding the possible identity of the sniper, flow past Booth, Brennan and their extended circle in a whirl of activity and drama.

From a singularly 'case' point of view, Hannah's information is the first really solid lead they've had to follow, and Agent Perotta, who took over the case upon Booth's shooting has been busy liaising with the Army and enlisting their help tracking Jacob Broadsky's possible whereabouts, know associates, family and friends. Because though Hannah may be the reason Jacob wants to hurt Booth and those closest too him, someone he knows works at the Jeffersonian, it's the only explanation for how he got by the institutes razor sharp security and the surveillance cameras – none of which managed to record a single frame of clear and incriminating video of him.

At least they have avenues of investigation now, a place to start from and a solid suspect to track. Brennan has every confidence in Agent Perotta and her team, with Cam and the squints to help them, it's only a matter of time before they catch him – she just hopes no-one else is hurt or killed in the meantime. The only person who isn't in the loop right now is Booth, and Brennan intends to keep it this way – at least for a few more days. Booth is healing really well, every day his condition improves and he's sitting up now, eating solid food again, she doesn't want to hinder his recovery by having him stressing about things he cannot prevent in his current medical state. But she has acted on his behalf, contacting Rebecca and getting Parker out of town. Rebecca has taken him to visit her parents in Toronto, and with the border alerted to Broadsky's status, Parker is safely well away from harm – just as Booth would want it.

Then of course, more drama, Angela went into labor.

Leaving Booth under Cam's watch, Brennan had spent an entire twenty-four hour period completely at her best friends' disposal. She read to her, she walked with her, helped her with her breathing exercises and basically ran around getting Ang whatever she wanted while Hodgins' stuck to his wife's side like glue, trying to grin through it when the pain got intense and Angela started threatening her revenge on him for ever getting her pregnant in the first place.

In the twentieth hour of her labor they finally convinced Ang to abandon her 'entirely' natural birth-plan and get an epidural, and once she wasn't in agony anymore things actually began to move more quickly as her body relaxed and she allowed it to do what it needed too.

Hour twenty-four, and Lucy Temperance Seeley Montenegro-Hodgins, finally made her grand debut; six pounds 8 ounces of highly vocal dark-haired, blue-eyed bouncing baby girl.

Ang cried, Hodgins' cried and Brennan, at first she was only misty-eyed, but when Ang passed the tiny, completely perfect bundle into her arms, and the baby opened her eyes and stared up at her 'Aunt Tempe', suddenly Brennan could hardly breathe as the knowledge that she'd have two of these in a few short months really began to sink into her heart.

The tears started and they flowed, silent, crazy-happy tears, as she nestled Lucy close against her, and let her free hand travel over the swell of her own children, marveling when one of them decided to kick her hard just as her hand passed over.

And a thought formed in Brennan's head that she suddenly couldn't let go of, a knowledge that she suddenly desperately wanted, needed - to know whether she was having boys or girls, or one of each. So Brennan kissed little Lucy on the top of her tiny head, passed her back to her pale exhausted mother, whom she also kissed on the top of the head, and with a promise to return after sleep and checking on Booth, Brennan made her way from the maternity wing of Sibley Memorial back to Booth's private room, to share with her partner their friends wonderful news.

It's late, 11pm, when she cracks open the door to Booth's room and finds herself smiling into his dark eyes as they seek hers greedily. It's only been a day, and yet she's missed him too, busy and occupied as she's been. Her smile widens at the sight of Cam, slumped sideways and sleeping in the chair by the bed, while Booth himself is still awake.

He raises his hand and reaches out for her, and Brennan crosses the room to twine her fingers with his, feeling the wonderful sensation of completeness sweep through her that his presence always brings.

"Hi." He says, around a sudden yawn. "Is everything okay Bones, you look all done in."

She smiles, and it's not like any smile he's ever seen on her face before, it's more serene, more mature, combined with her pregnant belly she looks 'Madonna' like to his tired eyes.

"Everything is fine Booth. Angela and Hodgins are parents to the most precious baby girl imaginable. I got to stay with them through all of it Booth . . . it was . . . amazing to be there when someone new comes into the world."

Booth grins at her wistful expression, following her thoughts he raises his free hand and caresses her swollen abdomen. "I remember that feeling . . . it's like floating on air Bones . . . like all of life makes complete sense for a short while."

Brennan nods. "Exactly." She replies. And Booth smiles inwardly at how much his partner has grown and embraced in the last year or so. He was crazy about her before, now every moment his love for her deepens, even while he knows they are still only beginning to heal from the wounds they've cause each other in that same year period.

"Booth." Her soft voice breaks his musings.

"Yeah Bones."

"I want to find out what we're having." She says, pointing at her pregnancy.

Booth grins. "Are you asking my permission?" He asks.

Brennan nods. "I didn't . . . before, but I shouldn't make anymore decisions about this without consulting you. It wouldn't be right." She says, so seriously he can't help the small bark of laughter that escapes before he remembers that laughing still hurts.

"Booth . . ." Brennan scolds, "Stop that." Brennan's face gets even more serious and he's oh so tempted to laugh again.

"Sorry. If you want to know now the sex of our children, I don't have any problem with that Bones. Can you swing it so I can come to the ultrasound though?" He asks.

Brennan ponders this. He's sitting up now; maybe it is possible he could be there, because she's impatiently planning on doing this as soon as she can, like tomorrow if possible . . .

* * *

It takes a little persuasion, from more than one person, but finally Booth's surgeon admits that his miracle patient is fit enough to tackle the move from bed to wheelchair if he's lifted there and he promises to return to bed once Brennan's exam is completed.

Brennan, by virtue of her fame, her pocket book, and her relationship with D.C.'s resident FBI hero, has been able to get a 4D ultrasound arranged the afternoon following the birth of baby Lucy. There's a tense few minutes as Booth resigns himself to being lifted into a wheelchair to accompany her, he'd rather get out of bed on his own, but as everyone keeps reminding him, he practically died ten days ago and no-one wants to see any hiccups in the wonderful recovery he's been making. Booth finally grins and bears it and let's himself be coddled, even if he hates every moment of it, bar the tender and concerned look of adoration on Brennan's face as she supervises every tiny movement he makes.

He feels instantly better once he's ready to go, wrapped in a blanket across his thighs, and sitting up more normally than he's been able to in bed so far. He's already had enough hospital and he wants to go home, but this is a milestone moment for he and his partner and though he'd rather be whole and healthy, the fact that he's alive to go through this with her is an achievement in itself and he's willing to just settle for the simple pleasure of sharing this with her this afternoon, everything else . . . can wait.

He's a sneaking suspicion that Brennan knows more about the ongoing sniper investigation than she's been sharing with him the last few days, but he's not willing to call her on it, not today . . . today is too special for that.

Once they are settled and waiting on the technician Booth takes Brennan's hand in his and noticing that she's trembling slightly he opts to distract her.

"So, a 4D ultrasound huh? You want to explain that to me Bones?" He asks with a look of genuine interest on his handsome face.

Brennan turns her head on the pillow to look at him sitting next to her, so different from the first and only ultrasound she's had this pregnancy, where she felt so alone and so guilty and where the stunning news that she was having two babies instead of one was broken to her. She squeezes his hand and the trembling in her fingers stops as the warm and strength of his grip calm and sooth her.

"4D fetal ultrasounds are like 3D fetal ultrasounds Booth, with the same depth and detail of the classic 3D version, but with the difference that they are real-time, and so the fetuses' movements can be detected. Really the soul purpose of the 3D or 4D versions is to allow the babies parents to see their unborn children. To see what they look like, whether they are a boy or a girl, at eighteen weeks, they should be able to determine to an accuracy of 99% the sex of our twins."

"Still sure you want to know?" He asks. "Don't want to have the ultrasound and leave the sex a mystery until you deliver?"

"Have you changed your mind Booth? I can get them to tell me and not pass that information on to you if you would like it to remain a surprise?" She says, but he can tell from the momentary flash of disappointment in her eyes that she really wants to know and to share this with him.

He shakes his head. "I'm cool either way Bones . . . I swear . . . I'm just checking, you can't unlearn it once you know." He adds.

He sees her relax. "I want to know Booth, I knew it the moment I held Lucy yesterday, Angela and Hodgins both knew, not that they would share, and I honestly can't stand the suspense. Not when it's so easy for us to find out."

Further discussion is interrupted by their ultrasound technician, who if Dr. Sweets had a twin brother would be named 'Derrick'. But apart from a shared glance of amusement neither Booth nor Brennan get any further on that train of thought as Derrick helps Brennan pull up the loose cotton jersey top she's wearing and Brennan watches her partner's face as he stares slightly open-mouthed at her bared abdomen. He's touched her, caressed the swell many times since the day she revealed her condition to him, but something about seeing her like this, seeing her naked flesh stretching to accommodate their children has him mesmerized.

Derrick applies the ultrasound gel and moves through it with the large paddle of the machine and then both partners attention shifts, two sets of eyes widen, two mouths open on a slight gasp of awe and there on the screen two childrens faces appear. The detail is incredible, one baby is sucking a thumb, the other one looks like it's attempting to get a toe in its mouth and so caught up are the parents that they don't notice enough time has passed for Derrick to have an answer to the question they both have.

"Boy's it is." Derrick's voice announces.

Brennan and Booth both drag their eyes from the screen to the technicians face.

"Both boys." Booth says finally.

The technician nods. "Yep, fraternal twins, but both male. Everything looks great here guys, congratulations." He adds with a large smile.

Booth finds his face stretching into an enormous smile, two little boys, two little brothers for Parker, two boys who will grow up to adore their mother, just like he does. Booth's gaze finds Brennan's.

"Boys Bones . . . two of them. Wow."

Brennan's ocean blue eyes have filled with emotion, gone glassy with happy tears, the thrilled look on Booth's face is like nothing she could have imagined, and more than she could ever have hoped for. The powerful surge of love, for Booth, for her sons, it closes her throat, she can't say a word. But the tight grip of her partner on her hand and the love in his eyes makes everything she could say moot anyway.

She smiles, holds his gaze and then returns her eyes to the screen, where two baby Booth's finally seem to make all of life in this moment make sense.


	18. End Game

**Authors Note: Sorry for the delay, blame writers block this time. Sometimes you know where you're going, but the steps are steep to climb. On the up side I had fun playing with 'Castle & Beckett' while I pushed past the block on this one;). This update is short because it's all simply exposition - but it'll get us to the good stuff following, so here we go.  
**

**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: End Game.**

* * *

Washington D.C

June 2011

* * *

Two days after Brennan's ultrasound matters concerning Jacob Broadsky came to a head, and in the aftermath, when all of them are picking up the pieces, it's Brennan who finds she is struggling the most to deal with the events that have unfolded. 'Survivors guilt', Sweets keeps calling it, and Booth keeps telling her the exact same thing, tells her he's been through it in war, and usually she knows she would be able to be objective about it, but right now, in her condition, she's just finding her coping skills somewhat overtaxed.

Maybe it's all just been too much in too short a relative period of time. Leaving everyone behind to go to Maluku, coming to terms with her feelings for Booth only to return home and have to adjust to the new normal of 'Booth and Hannah.' Then the Lauren Eames case putting her whole life into harsh perspective and proving the catalyst for her pregnancy decision. Changing her donor when she thought she was walking away from Booth forever, causing him to pull the plug on his relationship with Hannah. Months of loneliness and guilt, then finding out she's carrying two babies instead of one – Booth getting shot, almost losing him. It's all just piled on top of her and she's finding this last event back-breaking.

Hannah Burley is dead.

Killed, saving not only Brennan's life, but also the lives of Booth and Brennan's unborn children.

Shot by her ex-lover Jacob Broadsky, who when he realized what she'd done, sacrificing herself to prevent him from harming Brennan, promptly committed 'suicide-by-cop'. Not that Agent Perotta is feeling anything but thankful the scumbag has been dealt with, she's desk-bound as is normal after an Agent is required to actually discharge their weapon, but she'll be back in the field in a few days – once the paperwork is done.

The end-game began when they finally got a break on the Jeffersonian's security breach. Everyone had been wondering how the hell Broadsky had managed to breach such a secure location, and in possession of a firearm. Granted there have been breaches before, 'Gormogon' springs to Brennan's mind as one major example, but Gormogon had Zack to create a diversion, stands to reason everyone had concluded that Broadsky must have had help too. Angela was one who found the link. Unwilling to let someone else go over it all she brought baby Hodgins to work and began by looking back on all the security camera footage from the morning of Booth's shooting, focusing on all the ways in and out of the lab area. The cameras all appeared to show no trace of Broadsky, and the footage was date and time-stamped, she could detect no trace of tampering. It was when she suddenly decided to go back and look at footage from the previous day that her keen eyes spotted something odd, something off – the camera angles.

Plugging her sudden theory into her computer she came up with a schematic to see if her idea was possible and voila, mystery solved. Each camera had been remotely moved by a few degrees, nothing immediately obvious but enough to obscure a path for a person if they knew what areas had been screened. Angela was able to come up with a route, from the underground parking garage, through the bowels of the Jeffersonian and along the back maintenance corridors all the way to the balcony of the lab that a person, sticking along the outside walls and taking certain doors, would be able to get in and never show up on a camera. Give that person a set of master keys and in they go.

The day following the shooting, all the camera angles returned to normal. So by simply checking the security staff monitoring schedule gave them a name.

The FBI did the rest, and it didn't take long for Agent Perotta to not only get Broadsky's accomplice – Wyatt Knult – but a full confession also. Knult, a childhood neighbor of Broadsky's owed Broadsky big. Knult was the nerdy type, the type that gets bullied in a lot in school, and in his own words "Jacob saved my life – I had too."

Knult rolled over pretty quickly when pushed, Broadsky had only told him he wanted in the Jeffersonian secretly to see and surprise a girl, and after the shooting, Knult couldn't say anything for fear of what Broadsky would do to him. Once in custody, Agent Perotta made it clear that what Knult should really fear was what the FBI would do to a person who aided and abetted someone who almost killed one of their own, and Knult spilt his guts faster than green grass through a goose.

He gave them the address of Broadsky's digs, his prepaid cell phone number and a list of places Broadsky liked to hang out, more importantly he told them something he'd overheard Broadsky planning – his next target. Dr. Temperance Brennan.

Booth had taken Hannah from Broadsky; and in Broadsky's mind he was only returning the favor. He hadn't factored in Hannah herself, or that Hannah would have any personal attachment to Brennan.

Once she had the heads-up, Agent Perotta wasn't about to take chances with Brennan's safety – she had more sense of self-preservation than that – Booth would kill her if she let Brennan out of her sight. But following the stubborn, pregnant anthropologist everywhere was difficult, Brennan allowed it, but unhappily. So when Hannah called Brennan to ask her out for lunch, Perotta came too, and caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time, Hannah wasn't about to let Broadsky hurt anyone. Not when she blamed herself entirely for starting this mess, and so, when the targeting dot appeared, dead center of Brennan's chest, Hannah made the same move Booth had once done, and she put herself in the way.

She had no chance. Amid screams and chaos Broadsky came out into the open and he gave Perotta no choice in the matter, not with lives at stake.

It's over, but Brennan can't get the images out of her mind. Though Hannah was killed instantly, it's the redness of her blood staining her white shirt she still sees, the light gone out in the blue of her eyes.

Brennan can't sleep. She'll barely eat. She won't leave Booth's side. While Booth is getting stronger every day, and refusing to blame himself for what he knows was really no-ones fault, Brennan is flailing.

All Booth can hope for is that once he's discharged, he can take Brennan back to her Rhode Island home and together, they will both heal.


	19. Finding a New Normal

**Chapter Eighteen: Finding a New Normal.**

* * *

Six weeks later . . .

Newport Rhode Island.

July 2011

* * *

He gets to the breakwater and has to stop, lungs burning and chest heaving he realizes he's probably pushed himself too far, he has, after all, only been out of the hospital for four weeks. Four weeks, Booth shakes his head at the thought, it feels more like a lifetime ago, and the truth of the matter, is that he's healing well, quickly in fact, he just shouldn't be trying to run like he's used to doing at the moment.

He closes his eyes and tips his face up to the sun, letting the late afternoon warmth sink into his sink, breathing a little easier now that he's stopped, he takes a deep breath, holds it in his lungs, and revels in the simple pleasure of being alive, in the sun and by the ocean.

Since his release from Sibley Memorial he's been recuperating at Brennan's Rhode Island home, enjoying the clean ocean air and the joy of sharing each day with Bones. She's doing better finally he thinks, because the last few weeks; they've been rough on her. Hannah's death has truly been far tougher for her to deal with than it has been for him, and he's the one who thought he was in love with her, at least for a little while. Hannah's lasting marks are not on him though, but on his partner and he's beginning to understand that now Bones has opened her heart up to people, she can't compartmentalize her emotions in her old way anymore. The Temperance Brennan he first met six years ago would have accepted the sacrifice that Hannah chose to make, her life to save Brennan's and her unborn children. She would have seen it terms of simple math, one life in order to save three, and she would have moved on . . . sad, but in many ways untouched. The Bones he shares every day with now doesn't see things in these terms at all. Sure she can see the logic of it, but now that she cares, now that she's investing, allowing herself to connect with people, now she's hurting at the choice her friend made, and feeling guilty, feeling responsible, feeling pain. He knows that Brennan's old way of looking at things made her life much simpler in many respects, but he knows the old Brennan wouldn't love him the way that she does now . . . and he can't live without that love, so though he's sad to see her hurting, he's glad in many ways she will finally allow herself the vulnerability it takes to be hurt.

The last four weeks they've holed themselves up in the house Brennan bought when she left him all those months ago. Feeling their way through the new dynamic in their relationship, they've let their friendship be their starting point, and shared Brennan's home only as two partners who have begun dating. Though they've kissed, a little, hung out every day, eaten all their meals together and gone to Brennan's maternity appointments as 'co-parents', they've yet to move their romantic relationship any further forward. Beyond acknowledging that they love each other, and that they intend to be together, with Booth recovering from a gunshot that almost killed him, and Brennan suffering a real bout of depression, they haven't shared a bedroom in the four weeks they've been living together.

Booth for his part doesn't know how much longer he can stand the wait; his strength is returning by the day and with it his libido. Brennan's pregnant form is just about the sexiest thing he's ever seen and he wants her with an urgency that increases by the moment. He hasn't pushed for anything, at least not yet, but just the sight of her now has his blood heating and his mind flashing images of the two of them naked, entwined, he's beyond distracted at this point and he thinks the time has come to discuss the matter. He wants her, and she was the one who asked him if he'd make love to her before their children come into the world . . . asked him to take her as his lover so that one day they could tell their children they were, even if their conception wasn't a natural one.

Maybe he'll even talk to her about it tonight.

He straightens and breathing far more evenly, he's glad to feel the pain in his chest has receded almost completely. Booth opens his eyes and turns to head back up the beach towards home when he spots a familiar figure making her way onto the warm sand in the distance. He smiles inside as he watches her head for the water, sunlight making her hair shine and the simple shorts and t-shirt combo stretched over the ever-growing bump of their babies.

He walks over to join her.

** BB**BB**BB**BB**BB

Brennan stands right on edge of the water and let's the gentle waves wash over her toes. The water is cold, but the sun has warmed the shallows now that summer has really arrived and the sensation is pleasant on her feet as the sun beats down on her head. It's idyllic here, and she's come to the decision that she'll be keeping this house, even when it's time to return to real-life, the Jeffersonian and D.C. For the future it'll be the perfect getaway spot for herself, Booth and the children - close enough to D.C to be here in a few hours, and yet far enough away that it feels like another world.

She's contemplating the idea of housekeepers and upkeep when she detects his footsteps beside her and then strong arms wrap around her from behind and she sighs, leaning back against Booth's chest, loving the solid feel of him against her and grateful beyond measure that she has this, has him, alive and well and hers.

The shadows hanging over her the last month, the guilt and remorse over Hannah's death have finally begun to fade. She's found a measure of acceptance in both her own actions, and how they led to Booth and Hannah meeting, then breaking up and Broadsky . . . all of it has just finally been woven into the fabric of her being, and a new determination to live better, more openly, more accountably, has been born.

No regrets. She learnt this lesson once before, and it's still the way forward, the only way forward for her in this life now.

"How are you doing?" Booth's whisper in her ear breaks into her thoughts.

He can't see her smile from where he his, but she does it anyway, glad she actually feels like smiling again.

"Better. I feel good today." She replies.

The strong arms around her tighten, and he rests his chin on her shoulder.

"She would want you to be happy Bones. She would want both of us to be happy." He says.

Brennan nods. "I know. And we will be Booth, thanks to her, and what she chose to do."

Booth is relieved to hear the acceptance in her voice, there is a sad note still, but her tone is upbeat, somehow he knows she's smiling, and his heart eases.

"Are you staying out here?" He asks. He needs a shower himself.

"For a little while, how was your run?" She asks. "You know you really shouldn't be pushing yourself so hard Booth . . . the FBI will allow you all the time you need to get back to normal, there's no rush." She adds.

Busted he thinks. "Bones I need to push it. Feeling weak, not being active . . . it's just not me. I'm not overdoing it . . . not really, and I feel great." He says defensively, and is surprised when Brennan giggles.

She wriggles her behind against his groin and sighs through the giggle. "Yes you do." She says laughing louder at her own innuendo.

Booth groans, as his blood rushes south and then he remembers what he wanted to talk to her about and he groans again, pulling her even more tightly against his lower body, making his desire quite plain.

"Stop it." He murmurs, low and seductive. "Bones you're killing me."

She giggles again. The sound so light and carefree his heart soars. "But what a way to go Booth . . . don't you think?"

Booth loosens his grip and spins her around so that he can see down into her face. Brennan's eyes are twinkling with mischief and she laughs loudly at him as he tries in vain to pull her tightly against him with her front to his front and the large swell of her pregnancy completely foils his plan.

Booth finds himself laughing too. "S'not funny Bones . . . I want to feel you against me and these kids are totally in the way."

Brennan's face is flushed as she turns herself slightly to the side and leans up on her toes to brush her mouth gently over his. "So missionary is out if we want to make out, but I'm highly creative Booth . . . there are other ways . . ." She whispers before she kisses him again.

"Mm hmmm. I know that Bones . . . are you trying to tell me you think it's time we took this relationship to the next level, because I've been meaning to talk to you about that for days. I'm almost as good as new Bones, and you . . . you're the sexiest thing on the planet right now. And I want you. I really, really want you." He says, and it's so sincere and so serious that it makes Brennan giggle again.

"I want you too Booth. More than I normally do in fact. The increase in progesterone and estrogen in my system due to the pregnancy are having a major impact on my libido. I think it's fair to say it's basically in 'over-drive' right now."

Booth cracks up, and then kisses her nose. "Are you telling me being pregnant is making you extra horny Bones?"

"I believe that's what I just said Booth."

"So come back to the house with me now Bones . . . I'm in need of shower . . . I'll be all naked and wet . . . think about that." He smiles and it's wolfish and suddenly she finds it hard to breathe.

Brennan grabs him by the hand and heads determinedly back up the sand towards the house.


	20. Right Side Up, Right Side Out

Maryland Maternity Hospital

Late September 2011

* * *

He forces himself to take deep, calm measured breaths as he slowly and methodically starts to don the surgical cap and scrubs that the midwife bestowed on him a scant five minutes ago. He won't allow himself to rush these moments, nothing will begin without him, Brennan would never allow it, and he wants to savour this, remember the last few precious months when all he's ever wanted from life has been his.

Bare-chested he glances down at the still fading surgical scar that slices the center of his broad strong torso from his shoulder blades to almost his naval. He looks really much the same as he ever has; the scar is not even an angry red any longer merely pink and still slightly raised, and he hasn't yet decided whether to leave it alone, or have it removed. Balancing the natural vanity of someone used to being basically perfect, with the unimportance of it in the eyes of the man he's grown to be. He has everything he's ever wanted, what is a scar compared to the fact that he's survived a terrible shooting and had the woman he loves returned to him?

Fondly he recalls the sunny July afternoon they came together for the first time. Everything about that afternoon is engraved on his memory with every single detail perfectly clear in his recall. From the way the sunlight painted her skin as lovingly as a master photographer lighting his favorite subject, to the wonder-tinged smile that he knew never left his face. The way Brennan smelled, the way she moved, every hitched breath and ecstatic moan. It was a dream . . . each second, and yet it was a more vivid reality than any moment before it in his life.

It was as easy as breathing, the shift in their relationship, that transition from friends to lovers. It was as if a mist obscuring the truth of their feelings had finally been burned off by a relentless sun high in a mid-summer sky. They loved each other as if they had been only with each other forever; everything was new, every touch as none before it. Thinking of it now Booth can still feel the heat, the passion, the urgency he'd never known the like of with any lover he'd had in the past. As different as they are as people, he and Brennan, as divergent are their views and opinions on so many subjects, he felt that day and in every moment since it that Brennan was crafted for him as surely as he was meant for her.

Because when t hey make love, everything else falls away, nothing outside of the two of them matters, or even exists for the duration of their coupling. Lost in each other they create something new between them each time, and remind each other of how amazing, how truly precious life really is. Sometimes they simply spend all day in bed . . . Booth smiles wistfully, it might be a while before they can indulge in that again, and the thought focuses him back on the matter at hand, he finishes dressing and heads back to the operating room.

He takes the seat by Brennan's head, smiling down at her anxious eyes with reassurance burning in his. He's the one whose already a parent, he's the one more ready he thinks and as she reaches for his hand, wrapping slightly cold and trembling fingers into his warm and steady grip, he squeezes her hand tightly, and leans down to brush his mouth over hers.

"You ready Bones?" He whispers, kissing her softly once more before she can reply.

Brennan nods, and finds her smile. "I'm ready, we've been waiting for you Booth . . . you disappeared for ages." She tells him, eyebrows rising impressively when his answering smile turns heated.

"Sorry Bones . . . as I was getting all gowned up I got thinking . . . about how incredible the last few months have been . . . since that day . . . you remember, at our house in Rhode Island, the first time we made love, and all the times since. My life has become everything I've ever wanted thanks to you Bones. I love you." Booth tells her, his throat closing up around the final words as waves of emotion pour through him.

Brennan's aqua eyes bore into, seeking, searching and finally filling with tears.

"What's wrong baby?" He asks, stroking the hair back from her forehead.

"It's really okay." She mumbles.

"What?" He asks her. "What's really okay?"

"What I did." She tells him. "How I got pregnant."

Booth smiles hugely, nods fervently. "I forgave you the day you told me you were pregnant; I can't believe you're still worrying about this."

Brennan swallows. "It was incredibly wrong of me Booth; I may never understand why you don't hate me for it."

The warm strong hand holding hers squeezes again. "Never. Never think it again Bones, do you hear me? We were meant for each other, we were meant to have a family. And that's what we finally have Bones, after six long years, we have each other – in every way – and we're going to be parents. Life will never get any better than this Temperance . . . this is as good as it gets."

He leans down and presses his mouth once more to hers, firmly this time, and the full conviction of his words behind the action, breaking from the kiss only when he hears throat-clearing behind him and finds a smiling Dr. Julian Warner waiting impatiently to begin Brennan's C-Section.

"Showtime people." Dr. Warner says with grin. "We have two little boys waiting."

* * *

It's 'Connor' Booth who makes his appearance first. Six pounds one ounce of very feisty, very loud bouncing baby boy; the older twin bawls so much that both his parents start laughing and Dr. Warner merely comments that there is clearly nothing wrong with this child's lungs before he hands him over to a waiting nurse and sees about getting the second twin born.

'Ethan' Booth arrives seven minutes later. Smaller - five pounds six ounces, and quieter and much fairer than his dark haired older brother, when he's presented to his parents both are astonished at the wisdom seemingly radiating out of the younger twins dark blue gaze.

"Think this is the thinker here Bones." Booth tells her later that night, once visitors have come and gone, and only Brennan and his children remain. Parker has fallen asleep in an armchair in the corner of Brennan's hospital room; two blue bunnies clutched one in each hand and worn out from the sheer excitement of gaining two siblings in one day. Brennan looks fondly over at Booth's oldest child, and somehow knows that Connor will grow into an almost carbon copy of his older brother, both Booth boys ending up looking just like their Dad. Ethan, on the other hand, currently nestled in Booth's arms is going to grow up looking far more like her. It makes her smile that just like she and Booth, their twin children are vastly different, it seems very fitting somehow, and very them.

She watches Booth kiss his youngest child on the head, and snuggle him closer and suddenly she's aware that she's about to do something very not them . . . well not her at least, and yet, if they are going to be a family, this is the thing that she must do – for Booth, just because she knows now she can.

"Booth." She calls, as loudly as she dares because she doesn't want to wake Parker.

"Hmmmmmm." He responds, not looking away from the sleeping baby in his arms.

"I want to ask you something." She continues.

"Okay."

"Will you do me the extraordinary honor of being my husband?" The words tumble out in a nervous rush, and then she waits . . . wondering.

Booth's head pops up, and eyes gone dark and serious dart right to hers. "What . . . what did you just say?" He asks incredulously.

She swallows nervously and asks again. "I asked you if you'd marry me Booth."

"That's what I thought you said . . . but then I thought I must be imagining things because Temperance Brennan doesn't believe in marriage." He replies.

"You are correct in that I've always maintained that marriage is an institution that I did not ever see myself entering into. But I also never believed in love, or that I would want a child and I've completely changed my mind. I love you Booth, and I do not believe that will ever change. I wanted a child so much that I decided I was going to have one whatever the cost, and I know that marriage is something I really want to experience – but only if I can do with it you. So I'd like you to consider my question Booth, and to give me an answer . . . will you . . . ?"

Booth's smile lights up the room. "Will I marry you? That's what you want to know Temperance?"

Brennan nods.

"Upside down, inside out and backwards . . . " Booth mutters, before he starts laughing.

"What does that mean?'' Brennan asks confused.

"That's us Bones, that's what we are, how we do things. When you left me eight months ago it was because I turned your world upside down be bringing Hannah home with me from Afghanistan. So you leave and turn me inside out because without you everything is wrong. Now we've had children and the one of us who isn't the marrying kind is asking the one who is to marry her . . . how backwards is that?"

Brennan starts to smile. "Is that a 'yes' Seeley Booth?"

Booth gets up, places Ethan in the bassinet next to his twin, and crosses the room to sit beside Brennan on her bed. He takes her into his arms and kisses her forehead gently before he answers.

"That's a YES Bones . . . that's a very definite YES."

**THE END.**


	21. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

* * *

It got put on hold for a year, the finishing of her book, and it sat on her laptop waiting until finally under pressure from her publisher she finally took it up once more. It took another three months before she was finished, between her sons and her husband Brennan had not found either time or inclination to write, but when she re-read her unfinished manuscript she found the will and desire to complete her story.

For several years Kathy and Andy's adventures and partnership had been her outlet for feelings and fantasies about her partnership with Booth, and when that partnership had shattered, it had been Kathy and Andy who'd given her a place to pour all her heartache and despair. Now that she had everything, two perfect children, and Booth – hers and only hers in all ways imaginable, it seemed only fitting that she complete her book and give to Kathy and Andy the ending she herself had been granted.

Her editor called at three in the morning the day after she handed the final draft in. Crying.

And the book, it hit the bestseller list within five days. And it stayed there almost a year.

'Broken Bones' outsold every other book published that year, by a margin of three to one, and awards . . . it won them all.

The reviews were nothing short of glowing, but Booth's favorite went like this:

_Temperance Brennan has proven herself a master storyteller with 'Broken Bones', a tale of murder and mystery that transcends its genre to become a pure and unadulterated work of art. The familiar characters of Kathy Reichs and Andy Lister leap in this volume right off the page as their relationship goes this time into uncharted territory, destructing and then being reborn, like a phoenix from the ashes, to become a truly epic love story, one that will have you yearning for the like of it in your own life. A remarkable book from first page to last . . . you will finish it and only want to read more . . . _


End file.
